Icicle Knight, Fiery SeeD

Chapter 8

//\\

Against his better judgment, Seifer found himself in yet another Estharian waiting room, this one for the President's personal office. Much as he might want hold a grudge against the country for wrongly imprisoning Fujin, they had offered a contract and Garden needed the cash. Also, he intellectually understood why they had overreacted the way they had. That didn't mean that he forgave them, oh no, not by a long shot. Esthar had obviously been badly terrorized by Sorceress Adel's tyrannical reign, and had (according to the gossip that Seifer had overheard) only recently erased the final physical scars of Adel's final days. The country had been left in ruins in the Sorceress's wake, much as Galbadia was at the moment, scrambling to recover some sense of government after Edea had ordered the executions of nearly every key governmental figure, and with Ultimecia's quest for Ellone consuming Her, thoughts, hadn't bothered to replace them. The latest Intelligence reports Seifer had been able to look at concerning Galbadia's current situation, showed that the country was divided into a multitude of factions, each one convinced that they had what it took to piece the country back together, and weren't afraid to use violence to prove their rivals wrong. Absently, Seifer wondered if Rinoa and the Forest Owls had survived Edea's Purge. If they had, they had a priceless opportunity now to stage their bid for Timber's independence while the main army was busy holding the country together. That is, if they had the wits to see it as such. He hadn't been that impressed with Zone's or his men's intelligence when he'd met them.

But anyway, just how much longer would they be kept waiting? What was it about SeeD clients that assumed that hired mercenaries never had anything better to do than wait on their client's pleasure to be briefed? Did they feel superior to those whose talents they needed to accomplish their objectives, simply because SeeDs worked for money? If that was the case, Seifer would do all he could to disabuse them of that misconception. It would be his pleasure to do so.

Hardly had that thought crossed his mind, then the massive doors barring their way swung open. Giving those with him a wink, at which Fujin snorted and Trepe shook her head, he led them inside the massive office, easily twice the size of his own back at Balamb Garden, decorated in yet more of the horrible Estharian taste interior decorating. There were three people inside the room already, two flunkies who he ignored out of hand, and a third figure who had his back to them and was either having a standing seizure, or having a horrendously complicated argument inside his own head. Seifer didn't know which option disturbed him more.

After about a minute of watching the idiot perform, the President, for that's who it must be, even though he wasn't wearing the stupid robes that seemed to be Esthar's bureaucratic uniform, realized that he had an audience, and turned around, rather painfully introducing Seifer's jaw to the ground. Of anyone in the whole wide stinking world that the President of Esthar could have been, did it have to be Laguna the Moron? Apparently it did.

Abruptly a thought occurred to him, and he made a half turn to take a closer look at the two aides he had previously dismissed as office furniture. Sure enough, dressed in ridiculous robes like so many petty Estharian officials were Kiros and Ward. Where else would they be, if Laguna was the President in truth. The Idiot wasn't wearing those hideously impractical robes after all. Then he snorted at his own thoughts. Knowing Laguna as he did, (he'd spent far more time than he'd ever wanted to literally inside the Moron's empty skull, thanks to a girl with a green shawl that had a taste for meddling) that he'd likely forgotten that he had the robes and had simply worn something comfortable. And it wasn't as if anyone in Esthar would dream of telling their President he was improperly dressed, given that they had been stupid and spineless enough to make him their leader.

The President (he still couldn't think of him as Laguna) rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry to keep you waiting, we had to confirm some of the data before we could be sure of its accuracy." Well, at least that was an acceptable excuse for keeping them waiting. Seifer couldn't count the number of times a mission had gone to hell because of missing or false data in the briefing. The debacle in Deling City at the Parade was just one example. The Idiot straightened up. "Well, it's good to finally meet you guys in person!"

What. The. Holy. Fuck? Something of Seifer's incredulity must have shown up on his face because Kiros explained, "Ellone told us that she occasionally sent some of you guys back into our minds of about 20 years ago." The dark skinned warrior shrugged. "We thought that you were some kind of fairies that were giving us your blessing." The dark face creased in a grin. "You should have seen Laguna's face when Ellone told him differently!"

Seifer could just picture the Idiot's reaction. Amusing as it was, they weren't here to reminisce. They were here to do a job, and Seifer couldn't help but feel as if they were on a time limit. He didn't know what it was, but something was telling him to hurry the meeting up as much as possible without compromising the information.

There was one question that was burning in his mind though, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to concentrate until he asked it. "How the fuck did a disgraced Galbadian soldier end up as president of one of the major world powers?" he addressed the question to Kiros, knowing that Ward couldn't speak and if he asked Laguna himself, then the Idiot would ramble on for hours. It was a risk, ignoring the main client like that, but Seifer knew that a) Laguna was too easygoing to take offence, and b) Kiros was a member of Laugna's posse, that Laguna trusted him with his life, and if there were elements in the story that Laguna didn't want him to hear, then Kiros would keep his mouth shut on the matter so well that Seifer would never know the difference.

"A very long story short, we wound up helping the Adel Resistance take Her out to save Ellone, and once it was all over, Laguna zoned out and absently accepted the job when the grateful Resistance offered it to him. Just how Laguna normally gets himself into things." Kiros's voice was matter of fact, while at the same time glossing over a shitload of details. Seifer didn't press for them. If he had needed to know, Kiros would have told him. The knife master of Laguna's Posse (Seifer didn't think that they had an official name, not like his posse had) had always struck Seifer as someone who he could really have gotten along with, someone with a similar sense of humor and a code of honor that Seifer could relate to. He also knew; that for all the liking, all the similarities, if he made one threatening move toward Laguna, Kiros would have him disemboweled on the floor in an instant, and he couldn't have that. Who'd save Kiros from Fujin if that happened?

Thinking about his silver-haired spitfire brought his mind back to business. He couldn't say just why, but every instinct he had was screaming that time was running out. It was time to get the briefing, and the proposed mission, over with.

"What's the job?" the question was deliberately blunt, deliberately breaking the camaraderie that had filled the air after Laguna's announcement that he knew about Ellone's trips down memory lane. Seifer didn't give a shit, even if Trepe gave him dirty looks. He didn't care about her sensibilities, never had, never would, and all the commonalities he may have found with Laguna and his posse, they were the government in charge of making the laws that had sentenced Fujin to Adel's fate. And SeeDs weren't hired to make nice, they were there to do a job, a dirty job that other people either were incapable of doing themselves, or were prevented from doing due to inconvenient publicity. The purpose behind the organization might have been to hunt Sorceresses and keep the damage they could do down, but he had to admit, that when he woke up in the mornings, he thought of himself as a mercenary, not a sorceress hunter. That is, when he wasn't trying to banish vivid wet dreams of Leonhart that he tried to scrub from his memory at the first available opportunity.

Laguna straightened up, and Seifer saw a ghost of the soldier he had been underneath the goofball. "As I'm sure you're aware, with the destruction of the Lunar Station, the Lunar Cry and the reappearance of the Lunatic Pandora under Galbadian control, Esthar is in a state of Emergency. All our teams are occupied with containing Lunar Cry monsters and evacuating civilians from affected areas, so that we have no troops to spare to deal with the Lunatic Pandora, and retrieve Ellone."

"She's missing?" if she was, it was news to Seifer. He'd been with her up until it was about time to get in the pods, which had been when he and Raijin had spotted Fuu out in space, and had left Ellone to evacuate by herself.

Kiros nodded, and continued. "Several of the pods that came down were picked up by the Lunatic Pandora crane. The reason we kept you waiting was because we were double-checking with the Airbase staff to be sure that Ellone wasn't in the pods that were still in their possession. It's official, she's in Lunatic Pandora."

Seifer nodded, committing the information to memory. He and Ellone might have their differences, but that didn't mean that he truly wished her harm. "What can you tell me about the forces operating the...Lunatic Pandora, you said? What am I walking into?"

"Most likely some loyalists to Former-Sorceress Edea, Her Knight is in there, we know that for sure. Possibly some techs and some guards as well, no more than 40 at maximum. Take them all out and get Ellone back to us is the job."

Seifer stilled. Did they know…? A look at Laguna told him no, they didn't know who the Sorceress Knight was. Not that he didn't welcome a chance to fight Leonhart, but not having a father had given him some pretty idealistic idea of one. And hiring mercenaries to go after your only son, even if you didn't know you were, was very low in Seifer's book. He had to speak up.

"Did Ellone ever tell you anything about anyone named Squall Leonhart?" the question was mock-casual, and drew the attention of everyone in the room. Obviously sensing that the question was important, Laguna thought for a moment, slowly shook his head. Seifer's smirk was predatory. "And did she ever tell you what happened to your girlfriend after you sent her back from Esthar?" again a slow head shake, almost as if Laguna was in a trance. Behind him, just in his peripheral vision, Trepe was shaking her head slowly, almost as if she could see where this was going.

Seifer sprung the trap. "She was pregnant when you left. She died giving birth; the baby lived to be sent to an orphanage with Ellone. They lived there together until Ellone's powers necessitated her removal. He went cold, cold enough to be acutely vulnerable to mental influence." He paused for dramatic effect. "Your son's name is Squall Leonhart, Mr. President, and he's Sorceress Ultimecia's, not Edea's, Knight."

"…no…" Laguna's voice was horse, obviously not believing Seifer's story. "…can't be true…"

"Ellone confirmed it. According to her, the whole reason for connecting me with you was to give you enough power and strength to be able to avoid having to leave your girlfriend's town when you did, because hopefully you would then be able to prevent her from being kidnapped and thus be able to watch your son grow up." Seifer's smirk wouldn't have looked out of place on a T-rexuar. "Your contract is accepted. Any excuse to beat Leonhart up is a privilege and a pleasure to take advantage of. I bid you good day, Mr. President."

He turned and left, the SeeDs following behind him, various levels of shock on their faces. He didn't have to turn around to look to know that Laguna was collapsed on the ground, head in his hands, with Kiros and Ward trying to comfort him. He didn't know why it felt so hard to emotionally brutalize Leonhart's only parent, but he told himself that Leonhart would do worse to his old man without even trying. He didn't know where he had received his ideal image of a family, possibly in between watching Chicken-wuss gush about his mom and her cooking to the envious cafeteria and the stories that Matron used to tell, he'd received an impression that families meant the world to each other, that they didn't leave each other alone. Finding out that Leonhart had a father who had been not only completely unaware of his existence, but ready and willing to kill his son, shattered that ideal. As far as he knew, Leonhart was the only one of the Orphanage Gang with living blood family, even Dincht was adopted, for all his mom babied him.

Fuck blood family. Fujin, Raijin, Garden, and Leonhart were his family. He didn't need anyone else.

//\\

Ellone stumbled as one of her guards gave her a particularly brutal push, nearly sending her to her knees as she was shoved into the room. Once she had regained her balance, she lifted her head, intending to take a closer look at the room she found herself in.

And froze. There, standing right in front of her, was Squall, eyes no more than silver chips of ice. Despite the lack of a fresh bandage across his brow, he looked much worse for wear than when she'd first seen him in the Balamb Garden Infirmary. The fur collar on his leather jacket was no longer a pristine white, but was thickly stained with blood and other fluids to create a medley of several dirty-looking colors around his neck, his shirt was ripped and stained beneath the jacket as well. His skin was paper-pale, bringing the dark purple shadows beneath his eyes to unnatural prominence. But for all of the glaring physical weaknesses that jumped out at her, his grip was as strong and solid as ever on that strange gunblade that she didn't remember being in his possession during his days at Garden, and those fever-bright eyes shone with purpose.

She quailed at the sight. According to Seifer, it was rare for Squall to show any emotion, but the sick light that burned in his eyes would have made her cringe even if that wasn't the case. Those eyes screamed obsession, the kind that Uncle Vincent, Uncle Laguna, and even Terrence had all warned her about and had all done their best to shelter her from. Seeing that light in Squall's eyes, in the eyes of whom she regarded as her precious baby brother, nearly destroyed her.

They stood staring at each other as the silence became uncomfortable, and the weight of the lost years pressed down hard on her shoulders like a physical weight. In her mind, Ellone heard Seifer's accusing words again, saying that she, Ellone, had been the one to drive Squall to this place. That she was ultimately responsible, that if she had never left, then Ultimecia would never have been able to get her claws on Squall. The worst part about Seifer's rant was that he had been right. She had left the orphanage without a single word, had been convinced that it had been best to make a clean break, that it would have been kinder to Squall to leave without saying goodbye. She should have known better, she had known how dependent on her Squall had been, but at the time she had been a scared little girl, terrified by her very first Connection, of the things that she had seen happening. She hadn't protested when Uncle Vincent had taken her away that night; hadn't even left a note or kissed Squall goodbye. There hadn't been time for either of those things, she knew that, but Seifer's memories of how Squall had coped, or had not coped, with her absence had been heartbreaking. And while she knew that Seifer was hardly an unbiased source, she also knew that he cared for Squall, and that in his own way, Squall cared for Seifer in return.

Though, now that she thought about it, there seemed to be more to the relationship between the two boys than a mere rivalry. What had happened to Squall had seemed to be a personal offence to Seifer for some reason, and frankly, from the flavor of Squall's pathway to Seifer, she'd honestly thought that Squall felt genuine care, as in the care one felt for a lover, for the headstrong blond. And she couldn't help but notice (in an older sister glee kind of way) that some of the memories of Squall that Seifer had shared with her were focused on parts of Squall's body that had nothing to do with rivalry. She didn't think he knew that she noticed.

Looking at Squall, and comparing what she currently saw to Seifer's memories, she saw more than she knew she was meant to, or liked. Sure, Squall had always been cold, standoffish even. That didn't compare to the freezing burn he emitted now, as if he were frozen so deeply that the slightest touch would burn like the hottest flames, or shatter him into pieces. Sure, Squall always had looked slightly unhealthy, now he looked as if only stubborn will was keeping him upright, that if anyone else had pushed themselves to the extent that he had, they would be passed out from sheer exhaustion, or dead. It looked like…it looked like Ultimecia was feeding off him, draining him of his vitality in order to accomplish Her plans. And all of it, indirectly, was her fault.

She had to say something, anything, to break this awful silence. She had no idea of exactly how long she'd been standing there, as Squall hadn't moved throughout the entire time to give her a frame of reference. Normally that would indicate (at least from what Uncle Vincent had taught her) that not much time had passed, but Ellone had a feeling that that conventional wisdom didn't apply to Squall. Thanks to the computer access Cid had given her while she was at Garden, along with a limited security clearance, she knew that Squall could remain motionless for nearly two hours straight and still be fully combat capable and able to react to a threat in less than a second after it presented itself. She could hear the guards shifting behind her, but couldn't take her eyes off Squall for a second. She was pinioned by Squall's cold, silver gaze, unable to move or look away.

"Hi, Squall." She couldn't stop her voice from wavering. "Allot has happened since I saw you last." There was so much more she wanted to say, wanted to ask him. Questions like, how had he been, why was he following Ultimecia, was he eating right or sleeping well, all the trite little questions that an older sister could ask, and none of them could get past her throat, locked by the awful knowledge that she no longer had the right to ask them, that she'd forfeited her right to ask questions about Squall's life when she had abandoned him so long ago.

"Ellone." He recognized her. Or, perhaps Ultimecia had told him who she was. No matter. He knew who she was this time, and had actually responded with words, or at least, a word. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she had heard his voice since he was a little boy, and that knowledge shattered still further the broken pieces of her heart. There was so much she had missed. His voice suited him, a smooth tenor; that still showed its beauty despite the flat tone.

Abruptly she flinched, shattering the brief moment of connection. Squall's eyes briefly flashed gold, and not just any gold, but the gold of her childhood nightmares, the gold she had seen in her first Connection that had torn her away from Squall. Behind those golden eyes, so wrong for Squall's face, blazed mindless lust, fury, victory, and such a look of possessiveness that Ellone felt vaguely dirty, and reflexively hiked her shawl higher around her shoulders, as if to shield herself from that probing gaze. Then it was gone, leaving her so unsettled that she nearly missed the slight assenting nod that Squall gave to someone she couldn't see.

Her blood ran cold at her adoptive brother's next words. "Take her to Adel." Rough hands grabbed her shoulders, leaving bruises as she was yanked from the room and pushed to her next destination. She didn't notice, still slightly numb over what she thought she'd heard. There was no way she's heard that right, Squall couldn't have meant what she thought he did, he just couldn't. Mindlessly she fought, as she was pushed up staircases, and pulled down corridors, far too panicked to recall the self-defense training that Terrence had drilled into her. Just the thought of the Estharian Sorceress brought up all the remembered terror from her childhood kidnapping, as well as that horrible day, that she could still vaguely remember, that day when whispers of her differences, differences that had been mistaken for the first stirrings of Sorcery, had brought Estharian soldiers down on her parents farm, leaving her an orphan.

Her terror only increased when they finally arrived at their destination, roughly shoving her into the room. There, right in front of her, was Adel, still entombed in the cage She had been in for nearly 20 years now. This was Ellone's first real look at her childhood tormenter; she'd never been able to muster up the courage to look at Her during the few days she was aboard the Station. She still looked exactly as She had in Ellone's memories, not that she truly expected anything different, given that the sphere She was imprisoned in kept Her trapped in suspended animation.

All of Ellone's mental processes seemed to shut down all at once as Adel abruptly opened Her eyes. She didn't notice that she was free, that the guards had all melted back as far as the limited space allowed them to. She didn't see Squall, standing like a black and silver statue near the controls of the sphere, as he had been the one to disengage the stasis function enough for Adel to wake up. All she knew was that she was 4 years old again, an orphan, ripped away from her beloved foster parents, scared by rough-handed soldiers, and shoved into the presence of the most terrifying person she'd ever seen in her short life. She'd thrown up then, right on Adel's skirts, she recalled with amazing clarity. She was so trapped by her memories, that she nearly didn't see Adel slowly ripping Herself free of Her restraints, all the better to pounce on Ellone's fear-prostrated form.

She came back to herself when Adel finally broke free. There was nothing she could do but scream, the high desperate scream of a small child at her limits of terror, desperate for a sympathetic adult to come running and make everything alright again. She screamed, like Uncle Vincent had taught her to do if she found herself in trouble, and he'd promised to come running if he ever heard her do so. Terrence had made the same promise when he had taken over the White SeeDs. Only, neither of them would be coming this time, this wasn't Balamb Garden's training center, this was Esthar, far from Terrence's ship with all the kids and her friends, that she'd left behind without even a look back to say goodbye, so sure she'd been of Uncle Laguna's protection. She couldn't get away, Adel was getting closer-

Her thoughts blanked out as Adel absorbed her into the Sorceress's body.

//\\

Seifer let Hyperion's point sag to the floor following Adel's defeat. That had been a tough fight, given not only the danger of Adel's spells and stamina as a Sorceress, but also by the fact that they were hampered by the need to keep Ellone alive while they were hacking Adel to bits. Summoning GF's for assistance had been nixed, because there was no way to fine-tune a GF's attack to have it hit only Adel, and leave Ellone alone, the same went for most of the limit-breaks and most spells as well. In the end, it had mostly come down to having the more-magically inclined cast healing and protective spells on the fighters who had to get in close and hack the redheaded Sorceress to bits. It had been long and nasty fight, Seifer had had more than a few close calls before Tilmitt or Trepe hit him with a Cure or a Phoenix Down, so he could keep fighting.

But eventually, the inevitable happened, and Sorceress Adel finally lay dead and cooling at their feet, Her power passed on to Fujin, already a sorceress, and who looked slightly disgruntled about the entire idea of being the receptacle of power so that Adel, and possibly in the future (in more ways than one), Ultimecia could be stopped for good without inflicting those powers on some unsuspecting soul.

Ok, let's recap. Mission: to retrieve Ellone from the Lunatic Pandora (which Seifer still thought was a stupid name). Mission complete. Ellone was in their custody; Adel had been stomped for good as a bonus. On the surface, things looked pretty good. While he may have traumatized the President of Esthar while imparting the knowledge that his son was a Sorceress knight (and it wasn't as if the Idiot hadn't needed a kick in the pants anyway), Garden would be receiving quite a hefty sum for the retrieval, which could start to go to the deficit in the treasury caused by repairs, replacement weapons, and canceled contracts. Everything was going well.

But. The little hairs on the back of Seifer's neck had decided that they wanted to dance, and indicated that desire by standing straight up. He couldn't keep his eyes from perimeter sweeps, even knowing that most of the guards were dead by now. The few that hadn't been guarding the access hatches and had since been slaughtered as the SeeDs made their approach, had been in the chamber with Adel, who had killed half of those in the room with her before the SeeDs came and decimated those remaining in the struggle with Adel. If any had survived both Adel and the SeeDs, they were most likely to be too shell-shocked to put up any kind of threat, certainly not in the level that had all his instincts screaming at him. So who was left…. his mind went over the estimates of Galbadian forces that they were expected to encounter. Who were they missing…?

When the answer hit him, he cursed himself with all the fluency he could muster. Leonhart. Squall Leonhart was still unaccounted for, and it was his own fault for forgetting that they would have to go up against him again. Hyne's fucking balls and Ifrit's left nut, hadn't the lure of another fight with Leonhart been the main reason that he had accepted the contract? Anyone who knew him well, would have known that the instant he had heard about the possibility of going up against Leonhart, had also been the instant that he'd committed himself fully to the proposed mission. Fighting with Leonhart carried with it not only the prospect of fulfilling their rivalry, but also encompassed Seifer's secret desire to free Leonhart form Ultimecia's control. Even though he'd told Leonhart that he would be coming at him with the intent to kill through the idiot officer in Balamb, he hadn't meant it. He'd known from the beginning that Leonhart had been mind controlled, Hyne's balls, the Bitch had tried to take his mind first, and when he'd resisted, She'd taken Leonhart as the next best option.

But those thoughts didn't do him any good now. His whole mind tried to work out where Puberty-Boy might be hiding. He could send someone to scout out other rooms and corridors in the Lunatic Pandora, but his instincts told him that Leonhart was close by, as in, in the same room. He didn't have to look to know that Fujin and Raijin had noticed his sudden wariness and would have alerted the others to keep their guard up. Not that Kinneas, Trepe, Tillmit, and Chicken-wuss wouldn't have noticed eventually, well, Tillmit and Chicken-wuss could be a bit thick. Chicken-wuss because he was a moron, and Tillmit would be the first to admit that she occasionally had focus issues. At least she was aware of the problem and was working on correcting them. And at least she did try and correct her faults, well, some of them at least, which was more than Seifer could say of some SeeDs he'd known, Xu for example.

He didn't have time to be distracted like this. Not for the first time, he cursed Leonhart's almost preternatural stealth. It was no exaggeration to say that the silent brunet could sneak up on anybody whenever he pleased, no matter where he was, or how much black leather didn't blend into his surroundings. More than one Instructor had actually gone looking for the delicate-looking boy, only to get the shock of their lives to find Leonhart standing directly behind them. Even their stealth and tracking Instructor had fallen prey to Leonhart's ability to remain unseen. It was almost uncanny. No one could find Leonhart when he didn't want to be found, was the commonly accepted wisdom at Garden, and yet Seifer must try, if only because he was in a situation where Leonhart was still the enemy, and not just the enemy of Garden, but the enemy of the Client, which meant that Seifer must find him at all costs, and defeat him.

There were several shadows that looked as if they might be likely hiding places. He had already checked them, but thought that it wouldn't hurt to give them one more sweep before crossing them of the list of potential hiding places in the room, of which there were far more than Seifer was comfortable with. Moving closer, he abruptly found a distinctive blue gunblade in his face, while startled sea-green eyes found a pair of glowing silver.

/\

Inwardly, Squall smirked at still being able to surprise Seifer. Really, the blond was far too arrogant for his own good, which meant that surprising him was both easier and much more satisfying than his rival knew, as the blond was so certain that he was the best, that he never bothered to pay attention to the progress of others. To be fair, and right now Squall had no intention of being fair, Seifer was better than the vast majority of those who passed between Garden's doors, but that didn't mean that it was impossible to best him. On the contrary, Seifer's myth of invincibility made those who would challenge him, like himself; that much more determined to best the blond.

As he was determined to do so now, with so much of his Lady's plans at risk with the arrival of the SeeDs. Seifer and the others had killed Adel much too soon, before the redheaded Sorceress had been able to link Ellone's mind to Her own, forcing his Lady to abandon his mind prematurely, in hopes of using Her lingering connection to Adel's spirit to force the completion of the link She needed in order to cast Time Compression.

Abruptly, he hesitated, and knew as he did so that Seifer would be able to see that hesitation, even if it was entirely in his own head. Right now he didn't care about Seifer's abilities to read him, as annoying as it was. The sheer audacity of his own thoughts shocked him, but they refused to go away. For an instant, his mind presented him with examples of the devastation that happened when he followed his Lady's orders: the ruin that had been Trabia Garden, the scenes of slaughter from the Lunar Cry that a foolish technician had dragged up with the Lunatic Pandora's sensors, Ellone's screams when Adel absorbed her. The shock, and the horror at sights and sounds that he had directly caused on his Lady's orders was still fresh in his mind. He had been the one to give the order to destroy Trabia Garden. He had thrown the switch to activate the Lunar Cry. He had operated the controls that had freed Sorceress Adel from her cage, unleashing the Sorceress on who he still regarded as his big sister, the one who had held him on nights when the monsters that lived in the Lighthouse came too close to his window. And what had he done to repay her for that service? Fed her to a nightmare of her own.

All of what he had done had been on his Lady's orders, but did that eliminate his responsibility? He'd be worse than Seifer as his most thoughtless if he told himself that it didn't matter, that his Lady had given him his orders and that he'd had to obey them. His face would be the one mocked and reviled through history, his would be the name linked most strongly to destruction, given the simple fact that his Lady was completely unavailable to the vengeance of the mob due to the small matter that She did not completely exist in this era. Perhaps She was even now laughing at his attempts to serve Her, and had known that he would fail even before he had begun. She had access to that history that was still being written for him after all. Maybe, Her punishments weren't merely reward for failure, but signs that were clear to Her that there was no way She could win.

He visibly flinched at that thought, expecting a shower of agony that was Her retribution for disloyalty, that didn't come. That's when the realization truly struck, that She had left him. He had fulfilled all the tasks She had for him, now Her focus was on Ellone as the one person who could unleash Time compression. She didn't truly need him anymore. No, She couldn't have abandoned him; She had promised that She would never do so. He needed Her, even if She no longer needed him. She couldn't have…

Abruptly he leaped on Seifer, Lionheart nearly decapitating his startled rival. His Lady's gift, the symbol of Her faith in him… This had to be a mistake; he was merely coming to absurd conclusions due to unexpectedly seeing his old comrades from Garden. He ignored the small voice in his head that told him that he had seen them before in his Lady's service, and never questioned his Lady's faith in him. With the ease of long practice, he fought, forcing all his concentration into the duel and away from distracting, impossible thoughts. It couldn't be true…

/\

Seifer could read the war behind Leonhart's eyes, even though his rival's face never twitched, at least as well as it was possible. He'd seen the guilt flood the brunet's eyes, seen the wrestling between duty and honor, the way the cost of simply following orders flooded that silver-blue gaze. He'd deliberately held himself still through it all, had stifled his own urge to add a few words that might help Leonhart find his way through the emotional quagmire that resulted when obligations, and principles, and Garden training all collided in ways that weren't healthy in the least for the inexperienced mind.

And for all of Leonhart's preparation, both physical and mental that he'd received at Garden, in many ways, he was truly still inexperienced. That was partly the reason why he'd forced his way onto a train to Timber, after breaking out of a Garden Detention facility. The Timber mission had been too much for Leonhart's first mission, in more ways than just one. But try telling Squall Leonhart that something was too much for him; he'd just go out of his way to prove you wrong. Just look at the way the little bastard took up and mastered the gunblade, just to spite the Instructors who'd told him that someone like him had no hope to Hyne of mastering such a difficult and heavy weapon. The brunet was the most contrary little bastard Seifer knew, and being a bastard himself (and was mightily proud of it to boot), Seifer knew what he was talking about. That was why he kept his mouth shut and let Leonhart's own mind come to the conclusions that he could see in Leonhart's pretty doll-like eyes without any assistance from Yours Truly, knowing that anything he had to say would only hinder, not help, the efforts of Leonhart's subconscious to free himself from the Bitch's spell.

Even while being able to read the deceptively slender boy better than anyone in Garden (or very likely, the world), Leonhart's surprise attack caught Seifer off-guard. Using one-handed signals, he spared enough concentration to tell the others not to interfere, that he'd handle Leonhart alone. Then he returned the full force of his concentration to the duel, for duel it was. It reminded Seifer, almost hysterically; of the duel they had fought to prove to each other who was the best, going into the Exams, which seemed so petty and insignificant now. According to their rules, Seifer had won that duel by drawing first blood, no matter that Leonhart had immediately returned the favor by slashing his own brand into Seifer's face as a thank you, the other boy had then fainted, thus giving Seifer a double victory. He had a feeling that Leonhart, no, Squall had too much confusion, pain, and rage to let out to let rules dictate winning and losing for him. He would fight until he fell over, or until someone died, and that was the primary reason why Seifer refused to let anyone help him. All backup would do in this duel, would simply cause unnecessary casualties and fatalities, for Squall to angst over when he came to his senses.

Which seemed to be a long way off still, and Seifer would be the first to admit that he was getting tired, pride be damned to Ifrit's hell. Facing Adel hadn't been a picnic, and there hadn't been much time in between that fight and this duel to chug a potion or two to get his energy back up. In contrast, Squall seemed just as fresh as when he'd begun the fight. This couldn't go on much longer. If this progressed, he'd have nothing left to face Ultimecia, which he had to do, if only to make permanently sure that that Bitch was no longer able to enslave the one person in the world that he considered to be his equal.

He shot a Fira at Squall, and while the brunet was still off-balance, cast Draw. He wasn't expecting much, had really only cast it to find out if Squall was using magic on himself to keep up that level of a workout without faltering. If so, he wanted some of it for himself. Instead, he felt the icy numbness of Shiva enter his mind and by her sheer presence, cause problems with his Junction link to Ifrit. He just had time to hear Squall scream, actually scream, "NOOOOOO!!!" before the world imploded and everything went black.

//\\

next up, Time Compression, and the Final Battle. Whoot, thanks for sticking with me all this long way. I have to say, writing this story has been really fun, more so than I expected, and it's been interesting crawling inside Seifer's head. He's always been my favorite character in FF VIII, so learning how he thinks and what makes him tick has been really an enjoyable experience.

"Uncle Vincent" is the former leader of the White SeeDs, and doesn't have any relation to Vincent in FF VII. I needed a name, as well as a name for the current leader, given that he's never named in the game. But Ellone needed names to call them, given that she's lived the majority of her life with them, so I picked both names out of thin air. No comparisons with anything you might come up with are intended.

Squall's starting to pull away from Ultimecia on his own, something that had to happen sooner or later, at least from my point of view. In the Game, Seifer admits that he's his own man by the time you fight him in Lunatic Pandora. Squall on the other hand, is still very much his Lady's servant. And I think that inside his icy exterior, he's a very sensitive, intelligent, and compassionate young man, look at the way he didn't strangle Rinoa even at her most annoying? Blind faith only can take you so far before you wake up to what you're doing, and I wanted Squall to have that moment.

Thanks again for sticking with the story all this time. Please review (I cry when I don't get reviews). I'll see you again in chapter 9