Icicle Knight, Firey SeeD
Chapter 18
//\\
For the first time that he could honestly remember, Seifer's hands were literally and figuratively tied in regards to a situation. He could do absolutely nothing to help achieve a solution to the dilemma that currently plagued him. And he hated that fact with everything in him
He'd always been much more comfortable with acting, not… waiting for others to act. It was simply how he was wired. And while that trait may have made things difficult for himself at various points in the past, his multiple attempts to try and pass the final Field Exam for example, it wasn't exactly something he could help.
While he was a cadet, and finding excuses for manipulating his way around express orders to keep himself from collapsing from sheer boredom, he'd managed to find things to occupy himself, even on those rare instances when he was expressly prohibited from direct action: insult the Chicken, destroy sniper nests, investigate a suspicious interest by the designated enemy for the Exam… he could be quite creative when the situation called for it, and find unorthodox methods for getting out of trouble when consequences for his action loomed. But now…
But now, the consequences for personal action were far greater than simply failing an exam, more at stake than mere SeeD status if he got caught. His…(Hyne's fucking balls, he wasn't even sure what the brunet ex-knight was to him anymore), ex-rival's head would literally roll if he so much as put a toe out of line at the moment. Hyne's tiny fucking balls and Ifrit's left nut, he hated that fact with everything in him.
He knew, even before Fujin and Raijin had told him so, that he could do more to help Squall by publicly doing nothing. By pretending that the sole person outside his posse in Garden was locked up and being beaten daily like he mattered less than dung on a boot. That meant no speeches, no protestations of the former knight's innocence, doing nothing to influence Garden's public opinion in anyway. Every avenue that his instincts screamed that he use to help his former rival in this matter was blocked off, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to change that, no matter how much he hated that fact.
He couldn't even order the gossip in the corridors to cease, given that he knew far too well that trying to shut down the flow would only inflame the whispers of speculation not tramp them down, given that every cadet and SeeD who should have known better would be trying to guess why he'd authorized such an action that any moves in that direction would backfire on himself so magnificently that he'd be still seeing afterimages when Squall was taken out to be executed. He himself had taken advantage of that particular recourse in the past, so he was not inclined to underestimate the amount of information or power carried by those channels.
Squall respected the power of the Garden grapevine as well, which was why he kept urging Seifer to avoid associating with him in anyway, not that Seifer had any intention of obeying Squall's words in the least. He needed the midnight visits, just as he was sure the brunet did, even if Squall did seem to be inclined to be stubborn and give off every impression that he was only waiting for the bonfire to be built around him, no matter that he just happened to be innocent. The fact that Seifer believed him when he said this, and supported him as much as he could, seemed to make little or no difference to the ex-knight. Time and again the brunet urged Seifer to break off all association with him, on the grounds that it would be better for all concerned if Seifer distanced himself as far as he could from this whole matter.
Seifer, it just so happened, did not agree with that reasoning in the least. And because he disagreed with Squall's reasoning, he got Fujin to give him access to the security system in the cell area again, not to mention codes to access the stored footage from the camera overlooking Squall's cell, gathering all the information he could on those who periodically entered the ex-knight's cell to "interrogate" the brunet into confessing to the charges against him so they had an excuse to exile him from Garden, or even execute him.
Sometimes, Seifer thought, those nightly talks were the only reason he held it together during the long months it took for Raijin to find those behind Squall's accusation, that, and the knowledge that Raijin would leave no figurative stone unturned in his hunt for information, that if he was taking a while, then it was because the quarterstaff user was making sure he had everybody involved, no matter how insignificant a part they may have played. Seifer wanted them all, and Raijin would give his leader what he wanted, even if it killed him. He could expect no less from Raijin. The dark-haired member of his posse had never let him down yet, and obviously didn't intend to start now.
Just as Seifer didn't intend to start doubting his posse, not after all they'd been through together, even before the War. Raijin had earned Seifer's faith in the muscle-bound brunet's abilities several times over. Vividly, Seifer recalled the first instance Raijin's unique mind had come through for him, even though it had happened nearly four years ago.
A strength-enhancing drug called Strysol had begun appearing in Garden from no apparent source. While drugs of that sort were banned in Garden for a number of reasons, Strysol had been worse than usual given that the enhanced abilities only lasted for a short time, and the stuff was horribly addictive. The Disciplinary Committee had hit a dead end on every lead they'd had when Raijin had requested a free hand in putting the data together. Skeptical, but unwilling to admit defeat, Seifer had agreed. Two weeks later Raijin had not only found the supplier, but had managed to piece together exactly how the drugs were entering and dispersing around Garden. Two swift raids later, they were up before the Old Fart, getting a commendation for getting to the bottom of the drug ring.
The same thing happened again and again during their 3 years as the Disciplinary Committee, but the only part of the process Seifer hated was the fact that while the data was being collected, he had no idea what was going on. Raijin might employ spies to get him the facts he required, but required complete solitude while compiling the data, citing the need for no distractions whatsoever. But now…
Now the solitude wasn't merely a request, however strongly it was required; it was actively enforced to prevent even the slightest hint of doubt in the verdict. Before, Seifer could still see and talk to Raijin in the Cafeteria, or in the corridors, whenever Raijin took his meals, or simply a walk in order to process the data more efficiently. He could reassure himself that all was well with his posse. Now Raijin was closeted in his dorm room and office, having his meals delivered there and avoiding public spaces. No one knew what was going on in those rooms, Fujin had tried planting some bugs in there shortly after Raijin was assigned to the task, they were destroyed within hours and the silver-haired sorceress had never had the chance to plant any replacements.
Growling under his breath, Seifer grabbed Hyperion from where the gunblade was propped against his desk (keeping it in its holster while he was at his desk made it hard for him to draw the blade quickly sitting down) and stood, heading for the Training Center. He wasn't doing himself or Squall any good thinking in circles like this. If he couldn't come to grips with those behind his current problem, he needed to work off some energy and stress, and he knew just the way to do it. Sea-green eyes narrowed in anticipation at the thought.
He might not be able to slaughter those slandering Squall, at least, not just yet, but some holographic monsters would just have to do for a temporary substitute. Hyperion fairly singing in his hand due to his anticipation, Seifer swept out of his office, trenchcoat fluttering behind him in his wake, paying no heed to the way various cadets in his path nearly flew out of his way, his mind already fixed on blood. Monster or human blood, it made no difference to him.
//\\
Fujin stared at the paperwork Raijin had just handed her, unsure of what to make of it. When he'd questioned her two months ago, asking her pointed questions about her security staff, and who had access to her files, she had bristled at the implied criticism, but cooperated knowing that the results of his investigation were vital to Seifer's mental well-being. She hadn't asked any questions at the time, knowing from the set of Raijin's shoulders that it would be a futile endeavor.
But now, looking at the list of involved parties in the conspiracy to implicate Squall Leonhart for a crime he didn't commit, Fujin felt like she had just been viciously punched in the gut. Nearly half of the cadets she employed were on it, including some of those she had trusted enough to allow access to her working files, confidant in their loyalty to Garden, and thus, to Seifer. To realize that they had repaid that trust in this way… it was mind-boggling.
So boggling, that she had to make certain it was accurate. "SURE?" she enquired of Raijin, already knowing the answer. Raijin wouldn't have shown it to her if he hadn't been absolutely positive that he had the right names, and all of them. Still, he did her the courtesy of a response; even of that response was only a meaningful look and a sober nod.
She read over the list again, committing the names to memory. When she caught up with the ones who had caused Seifer such distress over the past few months… she blinked, caught up short by some of the names on the list. While she understood the reasoning behind some of the names, others baffled her. "HER?" she asked, pointing to one such name midway down the list.
"Started training at Trabia Garden and had several close friends who died there," Raijin explained, "transferred here for the Exam, failed, and resented Seifer getting a personal leg up to SeeD status by Cid after NORG's failed mutiny. Resentment, disappointment, and revenge all mixed up into one. Powerful combination, ya know?"
Fujin did know. She remembered the whispers that had followed her when her Sorceress status had come to public light. Seifer had been forced to issue a public statement that the reason he had yet to dismiss her from Garden was because Garden was the best place to "keep control of her and her power…". She had hated the necessity of it, and knew well that only one word in five of that statement had been true, Seifer had kept her on because he trusted her, and because he knew better than to think he could get rid of her without a titanic struggle that would no doubt level Garden on its foundations. Still, she kept out of the way of Garden's various clients, not wanting to have one abruptly cancel his contract because he remembered that she was still here.
Smoldering fury from several different directions abruptly converged at once, and erupted in a burst of magic, lightning flying through her small window, scorching the frame. Her single eye shot sparks of rage, had any of the targets of that rage caught sight of her, they would have collapsed in quivering lumps of dead flesh, dead from sheer fright. A second lightning bolt followed the first, and another, and a forth. A fifth bolt was forming when Raijin's strong hands closed over her shoulders as he stood at her back, blocking any sight of her and what her temper had done from anyone who happened to peer into her office.
The energy to create lightning faded, drained away by Raijin's comforting touch. She knew he harbored feelings for her, had known for years, but had been waiting for him to get up the nerve to tell her himself. She had to admit; he wasn't that bad a catch. Strong, steady, quicker than he looked in a fight, and the way he handled his staff was pure poetry, a mountain in motion, as she thought in her more poetic moments, which were very rare, thank you very much. And she knew that while Garden speculation had run rife those first few weeks after Time Compression that she would select Seifer as her knight, it had never really been any constant to begin with.
While she would follow Seifer to the end of the earth and beyond before she would question him, verbally anyway, some of the blond's more outlandish stunts had her questioning the merits of knowing him at times, she would be the first one to admit that Seifer wasn't the most stable of personalities. She had known and understood that about him from nearly the first time she had met the foul-mouthed blond.
What had inspired her to follow him despite that, was that those same flaws also made him into one of the most brilliant commanders and fighters she had ever seen. As any student of Garden well knew, flashes of true command were rare, very nearly rarer than the fabled Ibsedian sea-diamonds. Only one warrior in a thousand had it, others if they wanted to lead had to find some other way to inspire loyalty and enthusiasm for the bloody work of battle. They were liked, they were feared, they were good at what they did, they were hated with a passion… there were a million and one approaches to command, and some people were better at it than others.
However, there were some, the rarest of them all, who simply were. They employed no strategies to command, they were simply themselves, and people fell over themselves to follow them. Fujin had seen a flash of that in Seifer the first time she'd met him, and had seen more over the years she'd followed him. Ironically, she had also seen a flash of it in Squall Leonhart a time or two, but had never had the time to really follow up on that mere glimpse.
But she was getting away from herself. While Seifer might be a natural commander, those same character traits that made him ideal for command also made him less than ideal as a knight. Stubbornness, dogged perseverance, insisting on his own way, all were qualities that were great on their own, but less than stellar in the subordinate position. Which knighthood, essentially was, childhood dreams or no.
Raijin was different. While he might be a bit slower to grasp concepts than herself and Seifer, he was steady, patient, and had placed her up on a pedestal for years, worshiping her from afar. She'd known it well, ironically, the only reason Raijin hadn't yet succeeded in his quest to win her heart was that he'd never yet managed to work up the nerve to tell her how he felt. No matter how she herself thought about Raijin, she refused to allow anyone into her bed who had so little spine as to never tell her directly how he felt. It that meant going while waiting for him to get a clue, so be it. She could wait.
For now, it was enough that Raijin's presence soothed her temper, temper she abruptly realized that had become more difficult than usual to control in the past few months while Raijin had been busy investigating. Edea's advice, given to Fujin only days after Time Compression, proved its worth yet again, information that Edea had considered essential for a new Sorceress to know, so that she knew how to control her new power, rather than have her power control Her.
Only one aspect of Edea's advise had been more than a little vague at the time, and yet had been stressed by the older woman as the most important. However, Fujin was starting to uncover the meaning behind it. Edea had stressed that a knight was not a puppet the way they'd realized Leonhart's actions in the War had been. According to Edea, a knight was the center, the cornerstone of a sorceress's control. At the time, Fujin had raised her eyebrow at the cryptic saying, but had embedded it into her memory, the way she had memorized all the other bits of important information the former Sorceress had managed to tell her in the brief time available to them.
Now, she understood completely. A knight was the center, the center of the Sorceress's magic. They could exist without a Sorceress, only look at Leonhart as an example, who would carry the mark of knighthood in his magic for the rest of his days, even if the Sorceress whom he'd served had been dead for over a subjective year, and technically wasn't even born yet and wouldn't be for centuries to come.
But a Sorceress could not survive without a knight, not for long. Fujin's private thought was that Leonhart had been Ultimecia's second knight, that Her first had been somehow killed, the bond between them severed too swiftly, breaking Ultimecia's mind and throwing Her into madness. The Sorceress had hung on for as long as she could without the stabilizing presence of a knight, unaware Her sanity had been trickling away while She searched for a way to go back in Time and prevent it.
By the time She had found the answer, or had not found it, Fujin thought that She might have forgotten Her original purpose by the time She found the first references to the Time Compression spell, but had latched on to it with everything Her splintered mind had. Despite the fact that the Connection gift required to trigger the spell had long since disappeared from the world by Ultimecia's time, She had refused to let that fact stop Her. Using the time machine designed by Dr Odine (she'd forced herself to read his papers, given that he was the foremost authority on Sorceresses and their magic in the known world, no matter how much he and his notes gave her the creeps), She had come back, settling into Edea's body in order to search.
No matter that She wasn't in Her own body, or Her own time, Ultimecia's magic had still craved a knight, even though it had been far too late for one to do Her any good. According to Seifer's version of events, Ultimecia's magic had… scanned him for lack of a better word, and had decided that he would do, but had run up against unexpected resistance. While the blond was fighting Her off, along had come Leonhart, who for some reason had been less well defended against Her influence than Seifer had.
Everyone knew what had happened after that. It didn't need repeating now, just in case anyone had forgotten it. Fujin wasn't worried about that fact, the facts were readily available in Garden's Library, open to any cadet who wanted a refresher. .
One thing did about what had happened in Timber did bother her though. When she'd asked Edea about why Seifer had been (mostly at least) immune to Ultimecia's call, and Leonhart had succumbed in his place, the older woman had given her a look that had managed to combine such grief and guilt into the space of a single heartbeat that Fujin had been startled enough not to protest when Edea had changed the topic. Later of course, she'd wondered about it, but there had been no more time to question Edea, because by that point, the former sorceress had departed Garden with her husband for an extended second honeymoon.
The reason she hadn't taken Seifer for her knight, was in the end, very simple. Seifer was obsessed with Leonhart, he always had, and she knew that the blond always would be. Raijin however, was devoted to her, with all the parts of himself that weren't sworn to Seifer. And while she knew that if she tried, she could snap his last ties of loyalty to Seifer and have Raijin's devotion rest entirely on herself, but she wouldn't to do that. She couldn't do that, not when she would have to destroy her own loyalty to the blond in the process as well, and she owed him too much to allow that to happen.
Seifer needed them to watch his back, depended on them. She was not about to repay the blond for all he'd done for them both, and what they'd all gone through together (the War least among the adventures they'd had), by abandoning him now, not when he needed their support the most.
That thought recalled her mind to business. Shrugging out of Raijin's touch, she gestured at the list, lying miserably on the ground where she'd dropped it. "ARREST?" she asked, matter-of-factly.
Raijin's white teeth parted in a savage grin. "Yeah. I can't round them all up on my lonesome, ya know? I just don't have the authority or the manpower to accomplish the task myself. You know anyone who might be able to help?"
The look in Fujin's eye matched her knight's grin. "MIGHT." Bending to pick up the list, she began sectioning it off. Once that chore was complete, and the appropriate copies made along with copies of the arrest papers issued by her office, she summoned her truly trustworthy people, the ones Raijin had cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy. Those who sought to defy Seifer would soon learn the error of their ways, if she had anything to say about it. Not that they would have to remember that lesson for very long, she thought with a grim twitch of her lips. No, not for very long at all.
//\\
Seifer's fingers drummed on his desk in a seemingly absentminded pattern as he listened to the results of Raijin's investigation. Thirteen SeeDs, along with nearly thirty cadets, including his new Disciplinary Committee, watched him either anxiously, or with a solid indifference, depending on their natures, knowing without words that he was highly displeased, to say the least. He gave no outward sign of his deepening mood, no sign, other than the restless fingers, of the rage that grew within him at each damming word.
Those standing before him had not only misused their SeeD training for an unsanctioned purpose, which was bad enough, even if Seifer might have been more understanding about that particular offence than Cid would have been, given the fact that he'd indulged in that particular activity on his own several times during his own cadet years. But it was their other offence, the real reason they were standing in front of him, that had him seeing red, that had him visualizing their cooling corpses decorating his office, that had his other hand clenched firmly around Hyperion's hilt.
As Raijin read out the names of the accused, Seifer met each face in turn, comparing it to his memory of the ones who had nearly half killed Squall on several occasions while "interrogating" him. It was only due to the brunet's innate stubbornness that the constant beatings hadn't killed him all the way, even with Dr Kadowaki's intervention after the more extreme beatings. All the faces he'd memorized were there, along with a few others he'd half-expected, and some he hadn't. His fingers reflexively tightened on the smooth leather wrapping on the hilt of his blade until the leather creaked, one finger tightening on the trigger guard until the metal bit deeply into his flesh.
It was with real and deep regret that he recalled that Fujin had ordered him to empty Hyperion of any and all ammunition before she and Raijin had brought the collection of prisoners into his office. He could have slaughtered half of the scum from behind his desk in an instant if Hyperion had been loaded, could have reduced them to lifeless chunks of bloody meat before he could blink. Ah, well, he consoled himself, using Hyperion's blade would be much more satisfying when it came time for them to die.
Not that there was no longer any question of whether they would die or not, not once Raijin had discovered their guilt. This was not a trial to determine guilt, not by any stretch of the imagination. This was the sentencing, to determine what punishment would be most appropriate, and Seifer had long since made up his mind. The only question that still remained; was exactly how and when they would die, and by whom. Seifer personally itched to take them all out himself, but knew he would step aside in a heartbeat if Squall wanted be the one to take a gunblade to their flesh, and carve out their lying deceitful hearts while they were still alive.
Not to mention, he was certain that Squall's various supporters wanted to get in their own vengeance against the conspirators. Not only had Dr Kadowaki approached him with a petition for several subjects for some undoubtedly fatal experiments (the good doctor had been enraged at Squall's condition the few times she had been summoned to patch the brunet up when his tormenters got carried away) but Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tillmit, and surprise, surprise, self-righteous Quistis Trepe had also quietly approached him to formally request the blood of at least some of those behind the conspiracy. Oh, they'd never framed it in exactly those words, but the gist was there. If he claimed all their deaths for himself, they would no doubt be cross with him, and some of them could get downright creative if they thought they were being slighted.
The only reason Fujin and Raijin hadn't joined that list was because a) Raijin had been cut off from all communication channels with Seifer for the duration of this investigation, and b) because they both knew exactly how much he was taking he entire event seriously. They had known without ever needing to ask, just how much he needed to achieve his own kind of justice as a resolution to these events.
But it looked like there'd be more than enough conspirators to go around without slighting anyone. Seifer was sure that most of the executions would take the form of lethal sparring matches, with one side either barehanded or with unfamiliar weapons. Seifer was happy about that, because more than likely, if anyone outside got a whiff of what had gone on inside Garden (one of the first things Seifer had done after gaining word of the charges against Squall was to declare a media blackout for the entire Garden, placing all pending contracts on standby to ensure that no client ever got the sent that Garden was undergoing internal investigation) he could claim, without telling a lie, that the deaths were the results of training accidents, they had happened before, would happen again. The holographic controls in the Training Center would be overhauled (something that needed to be done anyway), and no one would be the wiser.
But he still had to decide how to divide up the victims. How could he choose? How would those standing before him die, he wondered, mock idly. He saw some of the cadets gulp several times and turn an ashy shade of white, no doubt reading the knowledge of their own death in his eyes, seeing the complete lack of mercy there. He really couldn't give a shit that they were scared. Fucking with Squall, meant they'd fucked with him, and Shiva would be very comfortable in Ifrit's hells before he lost anymore sleep over this matter. All the sleepless nights he'd had, worrying over what would happen to Squall, negated any and all mercy he might have felt.
Raijin finally finished reading out the names and charges. Seifer smirked into the sudden, heavy silence, saying nothing, giving his prey plenty of time to squirm. Abruptly he leaned back in his chair, a pleasant smile suddenly plastered on his features. Several of his victims tried to take a rapid step back, only to encounter the iron barrier of Fujin's handpicked security staff keeping them in place. They remembered him from his Disciplinary Committee days, and knew what it meant when Seifer smiled that way. One of the female cadets began to silently sob, tears trickling soundlessly down her face.
"So," Seifer said softly in a too calm voice. "Do any of you have any sort of explanation for this?" most of the cadets and a few of the SeeDs in front of him flinched. Despite the instinctive move away from his obviously masked anger (they knew he never spoke so softly when he wasn't beyond enraged) none of his victims spoke, not even the ones who remained proudly defiant in the face of his complete and utter rage.
"Nothing?" he asked in a falsely surprised tone, "you have no justifications for your behavior? No reason for you, all of you, to commit one of the worst crimes a SeeD can commit upon another-"
"He is not one of us, he's a fucking Sorceress knight! He nearly destroyed SeeD! Don't you dare say he's one of us, because he's not!!!" one of the cadets burst out, interrupting Seifer's condemnation. He'd been one of the Trabian survivors, one of the thirty cadets and SeeDs who had joined Balamb Garden on the eve of Galbadia Garden's attack. Seifer hadn't been altogether surprised that three of the thirty survivors they'd picked up at the blasted Garden on the eve of Galbadia Garden's assault were among the guilty, nor was he startled to see the idiotic SeeD who had drawn the sharp edge of his tongue during Squall's rescue.
Despite his fury, he understood where the cadet was coming from, at least, somewhat. Revenge was a powerful emotion, something he knew very well, in fact, he was caught in its grip right at this moment. That didn't excuse the cadet's behavior, not by a long shot. Just because he understood it, that didn't mean that he would let the cadet off in any form. Revenge, ignorance, both were no excuse in his mind in the face of the crimes that had been committed. But it would be far too easy to simply shout him down, which he could do, make no mistake about it. What he had in mind would be much more satisfying, and would crush his prey much more thoroughly.
Despite all his determination to remain affable, at least for now, his anger still leaked through his polite mask. "How the fuck is Squall Leonhart not a SeeD?" he asked, voice harder than the alloys that made up Hyperion. "First of all, he not only completed his cadet training with top honors, but he passed the Field Exam on his first try, with the highest ranking of those who passed the Exam with him. Not only that, he was awarded his SeeD status by Headmaster Cid himself." Seifer glared at the shrinking cadet, pushing the honors Squall had learned before the War in the younger boy's face.
Not only was the cadet at least two years from his first attempt at the big Field Exam, he was nowhere near the top of his own class, hovering somewhere around the middle… or at least, Seifer thought that was the case. He was much too busy to memorize cadet profiles, now, or even before the War. Back then, the only profile he'd made even the effort to memorize, had been Squall's.
"Not to mention, as Sorceress Fujin and her knight can confirm, not to mention Former Sorceress Edea who was Sorceress Ultimecia's vessel for the majority of the Sorceress War and one of the founders of SeeD and Garden alike, the bond of knighthood carries with it a strong power of suggestion, if not outright mind control, the direction it takes and the strength of it occurs at the whim of the Sorceress involved. Control that had been snapped by Ultimecia's death during Time Compression."
"As I shouldn't have to mention, Garden policy in the matter of mind control is clear. After the effected SeeD is freed from mental influence, he or she is placed under probation until it is confirmed that the programmed attitudes and behavior has been cleared completely from the effected mind. After that, the matter is considered closed, and the SeeD is welcomed back to his or her old clearance before the incident." Seifer finished speaking, casting a significant look at the now white as a sheet cadet, who only now apprieciated the enormity of what he'd done.
He glared at the oldest cadets and SeeDs then, particularly Xu, who had been in charge of drilling upper level cadets in the ins-and-outs of Garden protocol (not that he himself had ever had the displeasure of suffering through her classes). Only those in their first four of their seven years as a cadet could possibly be excused not knowing that information, but the all of those before him, cadets and SeeDs couldn't skate by on the excuse of ignorance. The SeeDs should have known it particularly well; given that seventh year cadets were strictly tested on their knowledge of Garden's protocols and procedures before they were allowed to take the final Field Exam.
As he gazed at them, peering into each face, he tried to guess why they would have gotten involved with something like this. Both Xu and his old gunblade Instructor (the moronic bastard) were in the lineup, they would have been involved simply for the chance to give him the bird, and damn the consequences. He remembered the face of one upper level cadet, one who had failed almost as many Exams as Seifer had, hmmm…jealousy and misplaced outrage… that would be it. She would have been sore at him about Cid giving him the jump up outside the Exam, and would have gone after Squall in some misplaced outrage over betraying some imagined melodramatic bullshit like "…everything SeeD stands for…" as if she even knew what it was.
Three others Seifer recalled as the ones that he'd been forced to repeatedly re-educate on exactly why only Seifer was allowed to pick on the shy, slim, Squall Leonhart. The idiots had seemed to think that just because Seifer picked on the thin brunet, that he was fair game to anyone who wanted to mess with him. It had taken 15 different broken bones (on separate occasions, none of them his), 3 split lips, one sprained wrist, 2 sprained ankles, nearly 30 official reprimands and 20 detentions before they learned differently. The only injury Seifer had gained throughout the entire episode (they'd been as unskilled as they were thick) had been a simple black eye courtesy of his then rival, when Squall had found out that he'd been protecting the brunet.
Several other survivors from Trabia Garden were there as well, revenge at the loss of their old Garden and the friends who had died there. Not all of them he was glad to see, Seifer assumed that Tillmit had had a hand in convincing the remainder that Squall had been as much a victim as they were. The copper-haired annoyance could be convincing, as he recalled with an internal wince at the memory of some of the more intrusive instances of the yellow-dressed SeeD's whining. But in this instance at least, she had managed to convince over two thirds of her fellow survivors to leave Squall alone, and he silently thanked her for it.
He couldn't identify any of the other faces in the lineup, but he didn't need to. Running through those whose names he recognized, he found a pattern, most likely the same one Raijin had found when he assembled the list of people currently awaiting his judgment. All of the names he recognized had serious past or present grudges against both Squall and himself, or at least just one of them. It wasn't that much of a stretch to assume that the pattern held true even with the …people he didn't immediately recognize.
Slightly amazed at what Raijin could come up with when given a goal, time, and a place to start looking, he stared through Xu's head as he came up with his decision. The ringleaders of the plot; would die either by his or Leonhart's hand, depending on wither or not the brunet felt up to carrying out the executions of fellow, no, former SeeDs. Dr. Kadowaki could have as many of the midlevel plotters as she wanted while the ones she didn't want and the flunkies would be divided up between the others who wanted a piece of the plotters. Fujin and Raijin would even have Seifer's blessing to join in on the slaughter is they so desired.
Seifer wasn't worried about resentment over his decision. It was more than they deserved. Falsely accusing a fellow SeeD of selling Garden secrets carried as harsh a penalty, or worse, than the actual crime, a group of fighters had to stick together, and falsifying information that accused a fellow SeeD of a serious offence was held to be nearly worse than committing an offence against Garden itself. Everyone in Garden knew that they were only powerful as a unit, and anyone who sought to divide the unit, through misleading information, through physical attacks, or any other such similar behavior, was made manifestly unwelcome.
That was why Seifer had gone to such lengths to make sure that everyone in Balamb Garden knew that Squall had been mind controlled into being Ultimecia's knight, and that all actions he had done as part of that role had been as a result of that control. By placing the blame on Ultimecia, Seifer had given Garden, and SeeD, a way to look past the brunet's actions during the War, a way to show Garden that Squall had had no choice but do what he did and his crimes against Garden were due entirely to mind control.
Not to mention, if you looked closely at some of those actions the brunet had done even while under that overpowering influence, the fact that the Trabian survivors had still been alive when Balamb Garden found them and not obliterated by the hiding Galbadia Garden for one, or the way that 5 SeeDs had been loosely guarded in D-District prison and that no extra provision had been made for guarding a martial artist for another. The signs were faint, but if you knew where to look, and you knew exactly what the brunet was capable of, anyone with eyes could see very clear signs that showed that Squall hadn't completely abandoned SeeD in his heart, even if Ultimecia had screwed up his head so badly he could hardly see anything straight.
Why else had Galbadia Garden avoided the helpless refugees eking out a living in the ruins of Trabia? Why else had Fujin reported that she and the others hadn't even been bound while incarcerated at D-District? And if Squall was Her devoted servant, living only for Her will, why else had Ultimecia from time to time have punished Squall for things entirely out of his control as Edea had testified?
Everything Seifer could see pointed to Squall being an unwilling puppet caught in Ultimecia's web. There was no point in sharing that point with the trash in front of him, soon they would cease to be even a consideration beyond a smear of blood on Lionheart and Hyperion. But for the rest of Garden, they should share in the information, if, that is, they didn't already see it with their own eyes.
Standing, he whispered his decision to his posse, trusting them to handle the dispersal of prisoners to their fates. He had better things to do right now. Trash like the ones that stood before him didn't deverve the courtesy of hearing their fate from his own lips. If they were so spooked about Sorceresses and their knights, then let them hear their fates from the lips of a Sorceress and her knight. Poetic justice at its finest.
And if the idiots tried to protest their sentence (which Seifer truly doubted they would do, given that nearly everyone in Garden knew that he trusted Fujin and Raijin to speak for him on certain occasions, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they'd carry out his pronouncements) his posse had his permission to deal with them in any way they saw fit, short of killing them.
On his way out of his office, he stooped and gathered something off the floor where it had been leaning against a wall. Holding the gunblade holster by the straps, he left his office, letting the faint blue glow that peaked out from under the tough leather light his way down the stairs to the cells. As he walked, he quickly checked his supply of healing spells. He wanted to see Squall personally, wanted to be the one to return Lionheart to its owner, and wanted to be the one who invited Squall to walk freely through Garden's corridors once more. He wanted to be the one to heal the last bruises and broken bones from the ex-knight's relentless series of torture.
He wanted to be the one, who told Squall that he was free.
//\\
woosh, Seifer's definition of mercy for those who've wronged those he's claimed as his sure is harsh. But he's serious about not having any regrets. Now all our lovely boys have to do is sort out the backlash of these events, and decide once and for all what they mean to each other. Chapter 19 (the last chapter!!!! Woohoooo!!!!), sure won't be boring, I can promise you that.
If anyone is going to be in a position to pity Ultimecia, it would be Fujin. I don't know where that idea of Ultimecia's lost knight came from, but it makes sense to me. Tell me what you think about it, because to my thinking, something had to happen to make Her go completely bat-fuck nuts, and make her hate SeeD in the process. We know that SeeD as an orginzation survives to Her time period thanks to the Time Compression scene in the game, is it all that implausible to assume that SeeDs killed Ultimecia's first knight, thereby creating an insane and dangerously unbalanced Sorceress? She had to have had some reason to reaserch going back in time…
Thank you everyone for sticking with this story throughout this long slog, even after I myself thought the story would end much sooner. But my muses wouldn't allow me to quit and kept telling me that there was allot more story left to write, even if I couldn't see it yet.
Review to get the next chapter!!! See you then!