Operation: Mariposa

by Scarlet Fever

Seifer/Squall slash! Rated M for Graphic language, violence, sexual content and drug/alcohol use. What do you do when your whole world turns against you? Been a while since I posted a fic on here! Work In Progress!

16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Selphie put her hands on her hips, looking around the main lobby of the Fisherman's Horizon outpost, perplexed. The place reeked of ammonia, bleach and other cleaning products, but that was to be expected. She'd done a thorough search, but there was nothing really out of the ordinary. The whole place had a creepy aura about it, but that was ordinary for a place where people were tortured on a regular basis.

"Nothing," she muttered in disappointment. She knew that the hard drive had been wiped, but it would take her portable scanner a while to go through the electronic residue of what had once been there. She wasn't sure if it had been Squall that wiped it... or someone from Garden. The whole thing made her put buying a more modern portable device on top of her to-do list, because this waiting was ridiculous.

Were you hoping to find evidence against your former friends, or for them?

"You sound like you already know the answer. So... you may as well tell me, since I don't know."

Doomtrain just looked at her impassively.

"Let's just get out of here," she said, looking around. "This place has bad mojo."

Selphie and Doomtrain started to head up the stairs to the main exit when suddenly Doomtrain flung a long arm out. Selphie walked into it, and felt the wind fly out of her lungs at the force. Doomtrain kept his arm in front of his mistress, body very still. His heart was racing so fast that Selphie could swear a train was barrelling down on her.

She looked past Doomtrain to see Ivan Blackmoon standing at the foot of the stairs, blocking the only exit out of the compound. He had his arms crossed and was regarding them with a dark, disapproving glare. Selphie blinked a few times in surprise. What was Seifer's boyfriend doing here? Or, ex-boyfriend. Not only because Seifer was carrying on with Squall, but because Seifer was also dead. How did Ivan even know about this place?

"What are you doing here?" Doomtrain asked. Selphie could feel his fear.

"What are you doing here?" Ivan asked. His eyes were drilling into Selphie like lasers. "You wouldn't even be able to tell that someone had been murdered here. At least, not with usual senses. But, being in here makes me sick, and that makes me... irritated." His upper lip curled into a sneer.

"Look, how do you even know about this place?" Selphie demanded, starting to get irritated herself. She took a step forward, as did Ivan. But, she couldn't go further because Doomtrain pushed her back hard enough that she fell to the ground and went skidding. She looked up to see Ivan pulling a sword from thin air, and her blood ran cold when she recognized the blade. Ivan's shadow grew until it was covering the entire stairwell, and his body was encased in armour that grew from wailing shadows.

Doomtrain opened his mouth and hissed as Odin completed his transformation from his old human doppelganger. Acidic smog spewed forth, and the hiss sounded like a reverberating train whistle. Selphie could taste adrenaline on her tongue as Odin lunged at Doomtrain. Her GF was trying to shield her from Odin's attacks, because it quickly became obvious to her that Doomtrain wasn't the real target.

Odin was trying to kill her. The realization made her blood run like ice. Selphie knew she couldn't fight him off. She wasn't a swordswoman. But, Seifer did it, her mind pointed out. But she wasn't Seifer. And his old boyfriend was really Odin. And, wanted to kill her for her part in Seifer's death.

Get to the stairs, Doomtrain commanded. Now. Doomtrain started circling his skinny, skinny body towards the staircase leading back downstairs. Selphie slowly followed, moving in inches like a spooked cat. She knew that there were rooms down there that had anti-magic generators. If she could just get down there before Odin could reach her...

"I didn't kill him," Selphie pointed out, just wanting to waste a few seconds as Doomtrain sidestepped, using himself as a shield for her.

"You had a hand in it. You betrayed a person you claimed to love." Odin's voice reverberated all around her and vibrated her bones. She had to clamp her hands over her ears because it sounded like hell was screeching at her in the undertones of his chilly words.

"He betrayed me first," Selphie spat out. "When he killed my friends at Trabia Garden."

"Astor had those same sentiments as he destroyed Seifer's body."

"Astor only interrogated him."

Odin laughed, and it sounded horrible. Selphie had to groan because it felt like her soul was trying to escape her body. "Your ignorance is laughable. I hope that someday soon, when you need forgiveness for errors in judgment, you'll be shown the same amount of mercy."

Go! Doomtrain exclaimed in her mind as he opened his mouth and wailed. The noise shook everything, and the room was filled with thick, noxious smoke. Selphie held her breath tight and covered her face with her hands as she made a run for the staircase. She could hear some kind of crash and the smell of something burning. Magic thrummed through the floor, and she could feel it vibrating up her legs. She was suddenly hit with a wall of magic that felt familiar, and she tumbled down the stairs. Doomtrain had pushed her the last of the way.

Selphie groaned as she pulled herself to her feet. She was sure that she'd sprained her wrist falling down the stairs, but she'd admonish Doomtrain for it later, if she actually still had her head attached to her shoulders. Selphie only dared to open her eyes for a second to see where she was going as she ran as fast as she could. She could smell Doomtrain's familiar poison, but she could also cold all around her. It was like she was trying to outrun the grave.

She threw herself into one of the nearest detainment rooms, slamming the door behind her. Even though she was safe in the room, it's not like a closed door would stop magic. She opened her eyes and remembered to breathe out before breathing in. She'd made that mistake before. Doomtrain's magic had a tendency to cling, and before she'd learned that, Selphie had swallowed many a mouthfuls of poison. She quickly searched the room and found the fuse panel that would start up the anti-magic field for the room. She entered her administrative codes into the computer, and felt the magic suck out of her body, and the pain that followed because of her forced disjunction from Doomtrain.

Selphie sank to the floor under the wall panel. Though she wasn't connected to Doomtrain, she could still hear the rumbling of his magical battle with Odin upstairs. Ivan was really Odin The thought left her cold, and even jealous. Seifer'd had sexual relationship with his GF, something that she actually did want with Doomtrain. Their connection was more than just GF and human master. He knew everything about her in a way that no human man could. He was also the only one that she could completely trust. She'd felt very alone since this whole thing with Operation: Mariposa. Even Zell seemed a million miles away from her, and Irvine had turned traitor.

Besides the jealousy, she also felt terror. Odin couldn't just be stopped. Seifer would always be a legend around Garden, whether is was for good reasons or bad. She just wasn't good enough to be able to take on such a legendary swordsman. She could only just hope that the magical barrier would keep him, and his wrath, out.

Selphie yelped and covered her ears as there was a great explosion from upstairs. Even though she couldn't be connected to Doomtrain anymore through the anti-magic barrier, she knew that he'd just been defeated, and was now gone to the summon realm to recuperate and rebuild himself. Her mind was working madly trying to figure out some sort of plan as she heard heavy, metallic footsteps outside the door. Hyne, it seemed so thin...

"I know you're in there," Odin's voice called through the door. She could hear whispers undercutting his words. The voices of ghosts and ushered souls.

"Seifer's opinion of you has always been very high."

Selphie remained silent. Think, girl. Think!

There was a loud scraping sound that seemed to go on forever. Selphie pressed her ear to the door despite herself, trying to figure out exactly what was making the noise. She gasped when she heard it again, scuttling backwards from the door. She pulled out her nunchaku and a hunting knife that she kept strapped to her forearm. Then... nothing. All that scraping for nothing to happen? She was almost disappointed. No trying to break the door down like in a horror movie?

She waited and waited until her arm got sore holding the knife up.

"You still alive in there?" Odin asked cheerfully, his voice sounding more human.

"What are you doing?" Selphie demanded, starting to get impatient. Either kill her or let her fight.

Odin didn't reply, but somehow she could sense that he was still on the other side of the door.

"Just kill me already, then!" Waiting around was so not her strong point.

"Do you realize you're in the same room that they kept him in?"

Selphie looked over her shoulder. The room smelled so strongly of bleach that it was making her eyes water. "Yeah, so?" She asked, but she felt a sudden illness in her stomach. "They probably just brought his body here, or he died here from his gunshot wounds."

"There's a trap door in the floor. As SeeD intelligence, I'm sure you know all about those." Odin's voice was blank, but she had the feeling he was getting some kind of enjoyment out of this. Why didn't he just kill her, then?!

She was past the point of irritation, into full pissed-off mode. "There aren't any trap doors," she snapped, even though she lowered herself so she was laying down and looking at the linoleum tiles, which gleamed in perfect cleanliness.

"You can check if you wish. I've got all the time in the world."

And I don't, she said to herself mentally. She resisted the urge to say it out loud, because he was just trying to get her mad, and it was totally working. What a bastard. At first, Selphie didn't notice anything strange with the floor, and was just about to shoot a nasty string of profanities through the door. But, then she saw it. The seam in those tiles looked slightly higher than the rest. Only just, though. Silently, she scuttled over and felt around the seams between the tiles.

Slowly, Selphie pressed her fingernails under the tile. It wouldn't budge. She used the tip of her hunting knife as a pry bar, and the floor lifted up slightly. Selphie wasn't very physically strong, so she really had to force it to get enough space to put her hands in. When she did, she grunted and heaved the secret compartment open. Selphie had to turn away, because opening it unearthed a horrible smell. It smelled strongly of bleach like the rest of the room, but the surface in that little hellish room was unfinished concrete, so it couldn't be washed completely free of whatever gore had originally caused such a stench. There were old bloodstains on the concrete, and Selphie had to force down vomit that was rushing into her mouth.

Selphie knew that Garden's policy on torture was one of those things that everyone just accepted existed, and didn't like to talk about. But, there were still sanctioned rules on what exactly could be done to a prisoner. And, none of those sanctioned rules had anything about some bloodstained box that smelled of rotting flesh and worse. Seifer had been in here?! She thought of the cold mania in Xu's eyes recently, and how much Astor hated Seifer. It's not like he'd made it a secret, and because Selphie was also from Trabia Garden, he'd mentioned it to her on more than one occasion.

Selphie leaned into the hole, but then slowly sat back. She couldn't do it. There was just such a horrible feeling about that little crawlspace that she couldn't get any closer. She sat beside the open trap door for a long time, silence crushing her. She took in a shaky breath after a long time and shut the trap door. She couldn't stand the smell anymore. "Okay," she called out, voice shaky. "I saw it. You happy?"

Silence.

"Hey?!" Selphie called, crawling over to the door and pounding on it.

Nothing. She pressed her ear to the door and waited. And waited. And waited. Odin was gone. Selphie tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"What the fuck...?" She cursed and kicked the door, then cursed some more because it hurt like hell. "So, you're just going to leave me in here?! I'll die!" She exclaimed. "Oh. That's probably the point, dummy." She sighed and flopped down on the floor, trying not to look at where the trap door was. But, now she saw it as clear as a bell, and she couldn't unsee it. She couldn't forget that smell. She'd probably be tasting it for days. What did you have to do to someone to get that kind of smell out of them without killing them?

Because Selphie knew she'd be stuck there at least until Doomtrain was able to reform himself in their realm, she started to get hungry. And, she was mentally kicking herself because her cell was in the pocket of her coat, which was haphazardly slung on top of an impeccably neat, bare desk in the lobby upstairs. Her eyes kept moving towards the trap door, a swooping ugliness pounding her stomach each time they did. Astor had hated Seifer so much because of Trabia Garden. Even Selphie still harboured a lot of anger towards him for it. Even though it had been Edea, under Ultimecia's control, who ordered the missiles, Selphie's blame mostly fell on Seifer. He made a better scapegoat than the only mother she'd ever known. But, imagining him being in that little hole, Hyne knows what done to his body... no, she couldn't believe that Astor would do that. Xu would never order that, no matter how much she hated Seifer.

And Selphie had to believe it, because what then? She'd felt just as much anger about Trabia Garden as Astor. Did that mean she'd be capable of locking someone she'd grown up with in a tiny little box that reeked of decaying flesh and unspeakable things? Even the imagination of it made her skin crawl in disgust. Not just as imagining what had been done, but imagining herself being okay with that.

She didn't want to think about this anymore. Selphie splayed her legs out in front of her, and instead started to think about what Odin had said. It occurred to her that he'd talked in the present tense about Seifer. Would Squall have come here just to avenge a dead man, or had it been a rescue mission? And, why hadn't Odin just killed her? Why was he stalling... so...

"Aw, shit." Selphie banged the back of her head against the door which clanged loudly, then pouted and rubbed it because it had hurt.

The wait for Doomtrain to reform and get her out was arduous. Selphie kept checking her watch and wondering about Garden, and what could be happening there right now. Wondering if Seifer really was alive. Wondering if Squall had cause for what he'd done to Astor, and that press release was just continuing to paint him out as a maniac, just like Xu wanted Oh, the doubt. She hated it so much. Selphie was never much for personal conflict. She always went into places with guns blazing, and second-guessing things was completely out of her element.

"Selphie?"

"Oh, thank Hyne!" Selphie exclaimed when she heard Doomtrain's voice through the door. He couldn't speak telepathically to her because of the anti-magic field, and it actually felt a little off-putting to have his voice in her ears, rather than in her whole head. She quickly rose to her feet and flipped open the controller panel to turn off the barriers.

Are you all right? He asked, voice filling her completely, making her shiver pleasurably with familiarity.

Fine.

She heard a loud scraping, and then the door was flung open to reveal Doomtrain to her. She flung herself into his arms, and he stooped low so he could hug her back.

I thought he might have killed you.

Selphie listened to the sound of his train-like heartbeat for only a moment, letting it calm her. "He was stalling me," Selphie muttered, stepping away from her GF. "He could have killed me if he wanted. He was just keeping me busy. And trying to hurt me." She only cast the briefest of looks back into the room, eyes gravitating to where the trap door was.

Stalling for what?

Selphie tore up the stairs and went to her jacket, fumbling in the pockets until she found that one that held her phone. "Oh, come on, come on..." She urged under her breath when she tried to call Garden's main reception line.

Doomtrain could feel her tension, and put a spindly hand on her shoulder as she started bouncing impatiently on the spot.

"Damn! Damn, damn, damn!" She punched the disconnect button and tried calling Zell's cell phone. Again, no answer. "Babe, we gotta go."

What do you think is happening? Doomtrain couldn't tell, because Selphie's thoughts were a jumble of confusion."I don't know," Selphie answered, throwing on her coat with so much haste that she started to put it on backwards. Her conflict came not from knowing something bad was happening or about to happen, but from that she didn't know who to be worried for anymore.

----

Seifer listened with interest to Laguna and Kiros's chatter as they escorted him towards the main doors to a terrace at the back of the Palace, where magic was able to exist freely. Edea and Ellone were also there, chuckling or adding their own commentary to the narrative. Seifer hadn't been around this many people at once in a long time, even if they were people he felt safe with. It made him happy, but nervous and kind of claustrophobic at the same time.

But, he still noticed the tense air around the conversation. Apparently, since Seifer could only take peoples' words for it and couldn't read it himself, there was an article in some of the newspapers about what Squall had done to Astor. Seifer could tell that everyone was trying to skirt around the issue when he was around, like it would upset him. From the details he'd gleaned, the articles had ranged from distant to brutally graphic in the description of Astor's condition upon death. Of course, the press release had come from the Headmaster's office at Garden, so skewed it in a very unfavourable light. Of course it didn't point out that if Squall hadn't killed Astor, he would have been killed himself, and his body probably would have been in much, much worse shape when Astor had been done with him. Not to mention that he would have been repeatedly raped beforehand. But, really... what favourable light could the whole mess be put in? The whole thing left Seifer a little unhappy. Being tortured like that had given Seifer new perspective, and the 'eye for an eye' line of justice made him feel cold. He wasn't happy with what Squall had done, even though he knew it had to be done. Maybe it was because Astor's brutal death had been for him. It was just another body in Seifer Almasy's wake.

Seifer pushed those things out of his mind for now, and thought of actually being outside. There were too many protection wards within the walls, which meant Seifer hadn't seen Bahamut since pushing Squall off the edge of that cliff in the Kashkabald. He'd kind of wanted to go alone, particularly after the pain of having to say goodbye to Squall and Quistis in the middle of the night, but Laguna and Kiros refused to let him go anywhere alone. And, they'd kind of pointed out the obvious that he couldn't find his way around a strange place alone, anyway.

The goodbye had been brief, because it would have just hurt too much to let it extend for more than a few seconds. A quiet 'be careful', and the briefest touch of Squall's lips against his own were the only tokens Seifer received from his departing lover, as well as an equally brief kiss from Quistis. Would that final touch be a memory he'd have to carry with him his entire life to remember Squall by? He had his own scores to settle with Xu, but if she killed Squall and Quistis, Seifer would hunt her until the day he died.

Laguna and Kiros kept up pleasant conversation, and entertained Seifer with stories about all the misfortunes they seemed to fall into. Most of which were completely Laguna's fault, according to Kiros and Ellone to a lesser extent. Laguna liked to boast about how well Kiros could 'borrow' things, and 'visit' people unannounced. It was cute how Laguna tried to describe it as everything except breaking and entering. Seifer could sense Kiros's affectionate annoyance. "Most of the time you didn't even have to sneak into anywhere," Laguna marvelled.

"It's amazing what you can do when you actually pay attention to your surroundings instead of just charging in like a bull in rut."

"Is this stuff you did for the Galbadian army?"

"Mostly," Kiros answered. "But, when we were travelling before we went to Winhill, we needed some way to survive."

"Kiros!" Laguna exclaimed in a very paternal tone. "You shouldn't say stuff like that, man! You make us sound like criminals." He shot Ellone a look, and she just shook her head. Laguna sometimes forgot that she was an adult.

Seifer couldn't help but chuckle, which caused him to grimace.

"You okay?" Laguna asked, concern filling his voice. He put a hand on Seifer's shoulder, and he was surprised that the touch felt similar to Squall's. Maybe Serino was right about more than just physical appearance showing that people were related. Seifer felt a sweep of extra loneliness. He didn't even have the moogle to keep him company now, since Serino went with Squall and Quistis. His veiling magicks would be invaluable for them getting back to Balamb.

"Fine. Just sore. That's bound to happen," he replied dryly.

"Well, you tell me if it starts to hurt, okay? Squall will get all mad at me if I don't take care of you. Where is he, anyway? You guys are like conjoined twins."

"I don't know." Seifer felt terrible about lying to Laguna. Wasn't a really great way to start a relationship with his potential life mate's father. "Probably resting, or at AA."

"Oh, he's going then, is he?" Laguna answered, though the doubt in his voice was evident.

Kiros was very quiet, and Seifer had the feeling that the tall, elegant man knew Seifer was being untruthful. He looked past Laguna to Edea. His eyes met her golden brown ones, and she had the same sort of look on her face that he was sure was on his. Her darkly painted lips were clamped tightly together, and worry gnawed at her face.

Seifer felt air on his face and heard the sound of city din. The air of Esthar proper wasn't exactly 'fresh', at least not what he was used to in the wilds. But after being cooped up in a hospital, and Astor's torture room before that, it was heavenly. Esthar also didn't have much of a smell. Not like Deling or Timber. Timber smelled like the rails, and the trees in the background. And, Deling smelled like gas fumes and old-world, underbelly intrigue.

Seifer let his other senses take over for his eyes as he experienced Esthar. He actually never expected to arrive at this final destination after their journey, so this was a pleasure. It only took a few moments before he felt a tug in his belly. He felt a tug in his belly as Bahamut sought out the power he'd never knew he had, and the power he still didn't know anything about.

The great dragon shrunk himself to the size of a wolf and put his head in Seifer's lap, revelling in the feel of his master's aura. Dinara's child patted his muzzle, feeling the magic swell between them. It felt, somehow, like he was touching the family he would never know.

"You have your mother's will."

Laguna and Kiros looked at each other silently, feeling a bit like intruders. They'd seen this sort of scene so many times since coming to Esthar. People picking up the remnants of destroyed lives. Families torn apart because of Adel and her armies. Laguna looked over at his adopted daughter and knew he'd been lucky to find Elle alive. Others weren't so lucky. Tiernan's whole family had been stolen from him, like Seifer. Though, he'd been an adult, so remembered every horrible detail of Azabaashe leading the charge into his village. Laguna put a hand on his best friend's shoulder, knowing that's exactly what he was thinking about.

I'm psychically connected to Shiva, Siren, Odin and Diablos. If something goes wrong, they'll let me know. Jurgen was junctioning Siren. The idea had left Seifer briefly sick, but he had to remember that GF could be junctioned by hundreds of people at the same time. It's not like Astor had exclusive rights on her.Seifer continued to pat the dragon's muzzle, not reacting to the telepathic relay. He didn't want Kiros and Laguna to know until Squall and Quistis were beyond Esthar's borders.

"Bahamut?" Seifer asked quietly.

"Yes?" The dragon asked out loud.

"Since my mother was a dragoon, I have those same powers, right?"

"Yes."

"How come I never used them before? Like... why didn't I accidentally ever summon dragons to me?"

"It doesn't work that way. It's something you have to learn how to use. It takes active concentration." It was Edea that pointed this out. She'd been asked that question a number of times over the years by children of varying powers. "It's not like being a Sorceress, and even then, that takes a lot of practice," she noted, thinking of Rinoa.

"Could I learn how?"

Bahamut paused. Seifer couldn't see the dragon's face, and he knew it would be impossible to read any kind of human emotion there anyway, but he still got the sense of Bahamut's emotions. He was unsure. "I know not. There's only so much I could teach you. It would be the sort of thing that one dragoon would teach another."

"I guess that won't be happening anytime soon," Seifer muttered bitterly.

"There could be other survivors out there," Laguna pointed out, always seeing the bright side of things. "Ones that survived as children, like you. There's people all over Esthar that were part of some kind of mystical tribe that were scattered to the wind because of Adel."

I need you to teach me what you can. I'll try to figure out the rest on my own. I just

You want to help them. I know. Stubborn as your mother.

Kiros watched as Seifer grinned sadly, fingers still on Bahamut's muzzle. The dragon looked quite content to just sit there with his head in Seifer's lap. He wondered if he should just blurt out that he'd guessed that Squall and Quistis took off for Garden, but he knew Laguna would freak out, so he held his tongue. Not just freak out, but go absolutely crazy. He'd lost Squall once, and Kiros knew Laguna would never let it happen again.

Kiros found himself watching as Seifer and Bahamut seemed to have some sort of mental conversation, but it wasn't the marvel of the great dragon king sitting with a man like he was a pet. He was staring at Seifer, and forced himself to look away because it wasn't exactly... proper. The still swollen and stark scars on Seifer's face did nothing to take away from his attractiveness. Kiros knew he had a type, and it was tall, blonde, with a fiercely handsome face and an utterly masculine body. All the things that Seifer was, and it made his hormones go into overdrive. Hell, he'd given Tiernan a blow job six hours after he'd met him because of how that kind of man wreaked havoc on his libido. And, Kiros's libido didn't care that Seifer was half his age, and in a relationship with a man who he saw as almost family. A flush entered his cheeks when some really inappropriate images entered his mind that featured his tongue going to very private places of Seifer's body.

He willed the daydream away, and noticed that Laguna was chuckling about something. Instead of finding him reading some text message on his phone, which is why he usually laughed out of the blue, Laguna's sea blue eyes were staring straight at him, and he was giving a humoured shake of his head. His eyes twinkled merrily. He knew exactly what Kiros had been thinking.

"Shut up," Kiros hissed, cheeks getting even hotter.

"What...?" Seifer asked, wondering what was so funny. He started to feel very paranoid, wondering if they were laughing at him.

"Kiros thinks you're sexy," Laguna blurted out, followed by some laughing and the hard sound of a punch when Kiros's fist connected with Laguna's shoulder.

"Ow!" Squall's father exclaimed through his laughter. He was glad that looks couldn't kill, because Kiros's glare would have been a painful death indeed.

"Don't you have any sense of social decorum?"

"It's okay," Seifer answered distantly, still partially connected mentally to Bahamut. "I'm not embarrassed. Far bigger things in the world to worry about. It's kind of flattering, that a handsome older man might be attracted to me, even with all these scars." He grinned.

"Squall obviously doesn't care," Ellone commented. "Where is he, anyway?" She looked at Laguna who shrugged, but when she looked at Edea and Kiros, and noticed how quiet her Matron had been all morning, darkness started to cloud her mood. What stupid and heartbreakingly noble thing had Squall gone and done this time?

Kiros checked his watch and frowned, still casting a death glare to Laguna. "If he and Quistis stowed on the dawn train, they'll be in Balamb right now."

"Train? What train? Stowed? What are you talking about?" Laguna asked, laughter vanishing from his face in staggered intervals until he was furrowing at Kiros in mass confusion.

"Quistis and Squall took off in the middle of the night so they could break into Garden and take down Xu."

"WHAT?!" Laguna bellowed, face darkening in anger. "That little shithead! His ribs are still broken! What if he gets hurt more?! Oh man, he's so grounded when he gets back." Laguna's hands were curled in the air as if he were invisibly strangling his son's neck.

"Seifer..." Edea trailed off in a very disapproving, motherly tone. "Is this true."

"Of course it is, Matron. We can't live like fugitives anymore. And, you guys can't exactly hide us forever. This is what you and Cid trained SeeD to do. And, his murderer is getting away with it."

Edea frowned. Seifer had always known how to be vicious with words when he wanted to prove a point.

"Still!" Laguna pointed out angrily. "They shouldn't have just gone off alone."

"Irvine and Fujin went, too." Seifer neglected to mention exactly what that meant. Laguna could happily offer Squall, Quistis and Seifer amnesty, but if he knew that Irvine was Sol, it would be a far different story.

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better!" Laguna threw up his hands. "How can you sound so calm?!"

"I'm not calm," Seifer whispered, still stroking Bahamut's scaly muzzle. He could feel power tingling under his fingertips. It kind of felt like he'd just remembered something that he'd forgotten, much like his entire childhood. "I'm terrified of losing them."

"So, was Jurgen just not watching them...? Oh... never mind..." Laguna muttered as it dawned on him that Jurgen probably went, too. "He should have stopped them."

"He should be exactly where he is now," Kiros pointed out logically. "This way, at least they're getting some Esthar support. And, we can just say he went rogue."

Laguna let out a long string of angry, helpless expletives. "I want to know what's going on at Garden right now. We have to find our contact." He clapped Kiros's shoulder. "Oh, dammit... where the hell did I put my glasses?"

Seifer heard Kiros sigh, and felt a hand squeeze his shoulder as they left. Laguna, because it vaguely felt like Squall's touch.

"I can't believe Squall and Quistis would be so reckless!" Edea exclaimed angrily. Motherly.

"This is Squall, remember?" Ellone pointed out. "He doesn't seem to be happy unless he's risking his life in one form or another. Oh!" She gasped. "Sorry, Seifer."

"For what?" He shrugged. "It's true. Though... do you still have the phone number of that guy you wanted to set me up with last year? I think I might need it."

"Seifer!" Matron swatted his arm, then apologized when he winced. "Don't talk like that!"

"You're right. It's not as fun if Squall's not here to get all mad and jealous."

She made a disapproving noise but then said "I know you've always cared for him. I hope that you two can eventually enjoy some time together, but trouble just seems to follow you wherever you go. You were the most maddening children to keep an eye on because of it."

"To be fair, Matron, most of the trouble was my own fault."

"I can vouch for that," Ellone piped up.

"Squall wasn't trouble, unless you count as a tripping hazard because he was clinging to your legs the entire time."

"He was so adorable," Edea mused. "He used to smile a lot more back then. And, you used to strut around like a little king."

"More like a tyrannical warlord." Seifer grinned partially. His face was hurting a lot today, so even smiling was tense. "I can't remember much, but I do remember being able to make Zell cry just by walking into a room. Man, I'd like to do that right about now," the grin turned a little dark. "Except I wouldn't be able to see it. Squall and Quisty never talk about it, but the fact that he believed they could kill Cid really hurt them. And, my reasons for wanting to hurt him are completely unselfish for once."

"You never really wanted to hurt Zell."

"Yeah, I did. I wanted to have power over someone, to make someone else feel weak." He grew silent, thinking of something unfathomable to both women. He'd been to places inside himself over the past month that most people couldn't ever reach. "I'm not proud of it, but I can't lie about it."

"Oh, Seifer." Edea stroked his shaved head, which was now covered in thin golden down where it was growing back in. "You're starting to look tired. You should go back inside."

"I don't want to," he muttered stubbornly. "Normally before I go to sleep, Squall will read to me. I don't want to just lay there and listen to silence." He smiled to himself. Squall was currently reading him a piece of homoerotic fiction that had some pretty raunchy scenes. Squall's voice would start to stammer and he'd stumble on his words when he'd get to the very graphic sex scenes, even though he begged Seifer to do things to him that were ten times dirtier than what he was reading. It made Seifer want to fuck him mercilessly, and he cursed his unresponsive penis to the depths of hell. "I'm staying here. And, even if I'm an invalid, I could still kick your ass if you make me go back."

"I believe you!" Ellone exclaimed.

"Oh, darn." Edea looked at her watch. "I need to get back to the children. I promised to take them into town today. The planetarium is having a show this afternoon, and Raijin will be waiting." He'd agreed to watch the orphanage children while Edea visited with Seifer. "I hope he finds a nice girl and has a family soon. He'll be a wonderful father."

"I'm sure it won't be long," Seifer murmured, thinking of the growing possibilities between his friend and Rinoa that even a blind man could see. "He'll probably adopt half those kids from you."

She leaned forward and kissed Seifer's scarred cheek. "Please get some rest soon, okay? And, think positive thoughts. Squall and Quistis are the best SeeD Garden ever had."

"That's only because I didn't graduate," Seifer said with self-deprecation.

"I'll see you later tonight, dear." She kissed him again, then kissed Ellone's cheek before leaving. But, not before she gave her former ward a long, knowing look.

"You and Matron can stop giving each other faces. It's not like you could stop me. I'd find a way to get out, no matter how you detain me."

"Seifer..."

"If he's in trouble, Elle, I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing. And, you'd do the same so don't say you wouldn't. He's your brother. I know you considered using your powers when he was drunk. You must have thought of it again now."

"I learned my lesson about dabbling with the past. It doesn't change anything. And, Squall would kill me if you got hurt again!"

"Well, if he's dead, he won't be able to."

"I hate arguing with you."

"Because I'm always right?"

She squeezed his shoulders. "Because you're so annoyingly stubborn." She sighed. "All right. I won't say anything yet. But, I hate lying to Uncle Laguna."

"I'm not asking you to. Delaying the truth is different than lying."

She frowned, looking out across Esthar with her hands still resting on Seifer's shoulders. "Do you think they're in Balamb yet, Seifer?"

"It's probably only a matter of time before we see something on the news about it." Seifer closed his eyes, feeling a little dizzy when a strong wave of Bahamut's power went through him. His magical defences still weren't all that great, so the magic felt very raw and wild. More powerful than normal, but that it was about to go out of control. He needed to be able to focus a small fraction of the dragon king's power if he really wanted to help Quisty and Squall, because while he wanted to protect them with his own life, he was finished with killing other people. He'd done enough of that in his life.

----

"How bad is it?" Quistis whispered from under the tarp she, Squall and Serino were hiding under. Jurgen was posing as a deliveryman, driving an open-bedded truck up to Garden. The trio were hidden among the apples under the blue plastic. It was a reminder of when Seifer had driven them out of Timber in much the same manner. It seemed so long ago.

Squall just grunted, tossing the newspaper aside. It had been in the cab of the truck, and the front page was covered with the press release about Squall killing Astor. It made him look like a monster, but he honestly didn't give a fuck. Let Garden and the rest of the world hate him, because right now he hated them, too.

The three stowaways stiffed when the truck started to slow down. Quistis instinctively reached across and grabbed Squall's hand. He squeezed it back. They both had the same feeling they'd had back when they'd gone through Time Compression and were standing just outside Ultimecia's turret, that black magic wafting out and hitting them like a sledgehammer. There had been no room for failure back then. There was no room for failure now. Except, back then, they'd had all their friends beside them, and the support of the world. Now, they were on their own, and those friends they'd stood shoulder-to-shoulder with now stood against them. But, Seifer was on their side. That thought kept them going.

"Okay, we're here." Jurgen's voice was quiet through the tarp. "This is the right place?" He asked, helping them out of the back of the truck. He'd parked beside a secluded pump station a couple of miles away from Garden. It was weird, seeing their former home so close. The last time Squall had been here, he'd been breaking up with Rinoa. He'd been worried that Seifer would never speak to him again, and he'd had no clue that Xu would betray them so thoroughly.

"Thank you," Quistis said as she and Squall made their preparations to enter the sewer network to get into Garden. Jurgen was going to cause a distraction when they signalled, and use Estharian machinery to jam Garden's magical sensors, at least until Quistis and Squall were in position.

"Keep in touch." He nodded to Quistis and turned back to the truck. No ceremony, no tearful pleas to be careful. He knew she wouldn't want to hear it.

"Oh, fuck it. Jurgen!" She quickly strode towards him, and when he turned around she grabbed the front of his shirt in her fists and planted a heavy, controlling, and very passionate kiss on him. He stood there like a statue for a few moments, taken by surprise as Quistis devoured his mouth. But, being a man and being inside a living body took care of any hesitation pretty quickly. He put his arms around her and kissed her back with an equal amount of force, though Quistis was still dictating the whole embrace.

Squall watched with one corner of his sultry mouth turning up in spite of himself. He knew that Quistis wanted Jurgen and it was about time she kissed him, but it made him think of Seifer, and the quick peck they'd shared, paling in comparison to this kiss, and paling even further to what their possible last kiss should have been.

"You'll see him again soon, kupo," Serino encouraged, petting Squall's hair from his position on the man's shoulder.

"I wish I'd said more to him."

"He knows. And, he loves you too, kupo."

"Thanks." Squall briefly turned his face into Serino's fuzzy belly. The smell was delicious and comforting. It smelled like home.

Serino made a twittering peep noise, because he was ticklish there, where Squall's breath was displacing his fur.

Quistis broke the kiss, still grasping his shirt. Jurgen's perfect grey eyes had a glassiness to them that she was sure was also in her own eyes. He was a very good kisser and he tasted nice. Her body hummed with the sexual possibilities and from the small release, like she'd taken a sip of water after a long period of thirst, but was still craving a whole jug. His dark lashes fluttered rapidly in surprise, but recovered enough to kiss her again, crushing her body in his arms. Their teeth clashed together and they breathed heavily.

Quistis broke away again, looking firmly into his stormy grey eyes, so pale and cold with a perfect ring of silver around the iris. She committed those eyes to memory.

"Good luck," he said as they broke apart. No ceremony. No tears or emotional declarations. She fell in love with him, just a little bit, for it. They pulled their bodies apart, their fingers the last things to separate. He went to the truck without a backwards glance, and drove away. Leaving them to their task.

"You okay?" Squall asked as they lifted the manhole cover that would take them into the sewers.

"Yeah."

Squall didn't elaborate, because that 'yeah' was the same one he'd said to her when she'd asked if he was okay about leaving Seifer behind. They dropped down into the sewers and started walking. They didn't need to consult the stolen Estharian blueprints, because they'd memorized them. Serino hunkered down on Squall's shoulder, closing his eyes. He didn't like being underground, and he needed to be able to concentrate more when down here, because being underground weakened him.

The sewers themselves were fairly new and clean, as far as sewers could be clean. There was a distant fecal and rotten smell, but Balamb had water treatment so while they wouldn't be drinking the water that flowed in the sluices around them, at least they wouldn't have to be afraid of getting cholera just from standing near it.

"You okay?" Squall whispered after they'd walked for an hour in tense silence. Quistis was leading the way with her held taut and magic ready in her fist, both in case of attack and to light their way. Squall walked a few paces behind her, his own gunblade in one hand and Seifer's in the other.

Quistis looked over her shoulder, but in the limited blue light coming from her fist, saw that he was talking to the moogle. The concern and softness in his face was very sweet.

"Ku-kupo. I'll be fine."

"I guess you won't find any girl moogles down here."

"I didn't find any so far in Esthar either, kupo," Serino said sadly, voice barely above a whisper.

"Esthar doesn't exactly have much wilderness, though. Kupo."

Quistis stifled a bark of laughter. Squall's voice was so constant and remote that even the cuteness of the trademark moogle exclamation had its fun sucked out of it. "Don't make me laugh. We have to be quiet," she warned in a hissing tone.

"We should be getting near the first checkpoint soon," Squall said quietly. Garden had set up magical and motion sensors the closer the sewers got to Garden. They started walking slower and more carefully when the catwalks got skinnier and the railings vanished. Everything was very black, and it looked like they would have fallen forever, the bottom of the sluices disappearing into the black.

Quistis held up her hand to signal that they should stop. They were at the first checkpoint. Serino screwed his button black eyes shut and concentrated as hard as he could. His body was thrumming with energy, and Squall could feel it vibrating through his shoulder.

"All right," Serino murmured. "Quickly, kupo-kupo." He concentrated hard as Squall and Quistis passed through the first magical checkpoint. They knew exactly where to look for the blinking sensor, and it screamed at them like a searchlight, but didn't change to an alarming red. They even held their breaths when passing, Serino breathing heavily in Squall's ear. When they were through, Serino's round body flopped on Squall's shoulder, and he had to catch the moogle so he wouldn't flutter to the ground.

"We'll rest a minute," Quistis mouthed in the stark magical light as Squall crouched on the catwalk, holding Serino steady.

Serino peeped gratefully, pulling some dried apple rings from his little satchel.

"I guess I don't know any good information about animal study like Seifer," Squall whispered in a sort of apology. When they'd been travelling through the Centra mountains, Serino and Seifer had talked for hours about ecosystems and flora and fauna.

"S'okay, kupo."

Quistis suddenly felt a buzzing against her hip, and patted her jacket pocket to find the disposable cell phone she'd picked up in Esthar before leaving. "Irvine," she whispered, checking the text message. Squall hadn't exactly been over the moon about Irvine helping them, holding some anger towards him for having Seifer become Jupiter, but he wasn't stupid enough to refuse aid. Irvine was headed for Galbadia Garden with Fujin. Garden's computers were all hooked up together, and Irvine could do better hacking from Galbadia, since he knew that school as well as Balamb. From Galbadia, he could also try to shut down the magical sensors so Quistis and Squall could move more quickly, and more importantly, get to the upper levels of Balamb Garden, where Xu would be.

"Said he's about an hour outside G.G."

"We'll keep moving. No sense in waiting now." He looked to Serino. "You okay?"

"Keep walking, kupo."

They walked for another long stretch of time until they came to the second sensor gate. It was hard to tell how long it had been, since it was too dark to really see their watches. Serino looked worried and exhausted, but nodded that he was ready to block their magical energies again.

"There should only be one more," Quistis promised as they continued walking. The smell of sewage got stronger as they neared the main treatment station under Garden.

"Hang on." Squall stopped when Serino nearly fell off his shoulder. He was so weak that he couldn't keep himself upright.

"I'm sorry, kupo kupo..." Serino coughed out.

"Don't be." Squall cradled Serino in one of his arms. The moogle's fur looked dewy, and he was shaking.

"We're almost there." Quistis held up her magically lighted fist and looked around.

"Okay." Squall looked up when they stopped. There was a ladder leading up to a manhole cover that was supposed to be situated in Garden's main maintenance room. He looked down at Serino cradled in his arms. He looked too far gone to be able to shield them once more. "Call out Diablos, and I'll call Shiva."

"Squall..."

"You go through the air ducts in the maintenance room. You need to get to Xu. Me and Jurgen will buy you the time."

"Squall, no. I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me."

"I have my own scores to settle."

Quistis's mouth turned down, but she saw how Squall's own was set in a firm, thin line. He was in mule-mode, and there was no way she was going to be able to budge him, stubborn bastard. "All right. But, you have to promise you'll be smart."

"I promise," he uttered firmly. The whole world may have been against him, but he still had too much to lose. Just thinking of Seifer waiting for him in Esthar raised Squall's sense of self-preservation to astronomical levels.

Squall and Quistis both called out their GF. Squall could feel Diablos's bats flutter all around him in the darkness as they swirled up to the manhole cover. Shiva's coldness was at his side, and they heard the wrenching sound of magic and metal bending all at once, and then the manhole cover was blown off. The remnants of the spell that had been around the sewer entrance into Garden washed down on them in hot waves. Serino immediately flew up through the hole into the maintenance room. Now that he wasn't underground, his magic flooded back into his small, round body and he was able to cast a magical barrier while Squall and Quistis hoisted themselves up into the stark cement room.

Garden's boilers hummed in unison all around them as Diablos's body formed from the bat cloud, and he hovered behind Quistis like a creepy shadow. She looked up and around the room at the few air ducts, bringing up the blueprints from her photographic memory. She nodded and went towards the one she needed. "Okay, ready."

Squall followed and crouched on all fours so Quistis could stand on his back to reach the grate. She pulled a small collapsible drill from the pouch at the small of her back, and began to loosen the screws holding the grate in place. Serino hummed and chirped under his breath and kept the barrier going. Though he was stronger now that he was topside, it was obvious that he was exhausted, and the anti-magic force field was visibly flickering.

"Hurry," Squall huffed as Quistis's heel dug a little too close to comfort to the cracked rib. She was heavier than she looked when she was standing on him like this.

"Okay." She gripped the grate and stepped off Squall's back. He let out an 'oof' of discomfort, and then made a basket with his hands to vault her up to the now open duct.

"Serino, ready to drop the barrier?"

"Kupo..." He murmured shakily.

"1, 2, 3." Quistis put her foot in Squall's gloved hands and jumped as he raised his arms so she bounced up to the duct, and was able to haul herself into it. Diablos turned to bats again and swarmed in after her.

"Your turn." Shiva used her magic to create an ice block that Squall could stand on so he could replace the grate. Serino's barrier was now nearly completely translucent, and Squall had to work fast to screw the grating back into place. He stayed perfectly still as he did, because the block was really slippery, and Serino's barrier wouldn't do any good if he dropped the grating and made a huge noise that would call any SeeD within earshot.

When he was done, he stepped down. "You should maybe hide."

"I want to help, kupo!"

"You already have. Get some of your strength back, okay?" Squall petted Serino and flicked his pom-pom affectionately. "Me and Quisty will be back soon."

"I've heard that a lot before, kupo." Serino flew up to the top of a metal cabinet, flopping down because his little purple wings just couldn't hold him up anymore. His glittering eyes looked at Squall sadly as the human left the room. Serino never thought he'd become so attached to humans, but the feeling that he might not see the two of them again filled him with dread.

Squall closed the maintenance room door behind him, pulling Lionheart and Hyperion off his back. Shiva floated behind him, the air around her tense with magic. The halls felt so strange, walking down them again after so long away, after so much had happened. Squall pressed his back to the wall when he reached the door that he knew would lead into the parking garage. Hyne, it was a different Squall that had once walked through this school. Dutiful, unquestioning, cold and alone. He'd been a drunk, and without Seifer.

Be careful, Shiva mentally warned him. I sense strong magic nearby. But... I can also sense Eden. Xu must have called it.Squall shook his head. He couldn't think about that now. He couldn't picture Quistis at the hands of that abomination. He had to think of the task at hand. He counted to three and blasted the door open with magic, Shiva flowing out ahead of him with a wall of thick ice magic. Squall felt a metaphysical punch to the chest, and Shiva was blasted back. Wind and ice surrounded Squall, and he could smell smoke and hear the sizzling of boiling water where fire hit Shiva's icy skin.

Squall immediately threw up a wall spell, and through the warped air, he could see the hot, orange brimstone of Ifrit as the fire demon lunged at Shiva. Her face contorted in rage as she fought back, razor-sharp ice shards embedding in Ifrit's skin. He howled and Shiva attacked again with cold fury. She and Ifrit weren't the best of friends at normal times, but the anger that made her serene face ugly came from her master as Squall looked down the hall beyond the Summons tangling together in battle. Squall's eyes met Zell's, and his whole body felt like he was the one on fire, not Ifrit.

Zell had arrived at Squall's position so quickly because he'd had Ifrit specifically looking for Shiva for days now. Ifrit knew the ice goddess's magical signature very well, and had sensed her presence as soon as Squall had called her from within his body. There were explosions near the quad and most of the SeeD had gone there, but Zell knew their main target wouldn't head there. He knew that Squall would be here.

He hadn't known what he was going to do, though. And now, looking at Squall whose face was white with rage, he still didn't. He hadn't slept properly since Seifer's death, and was plagued by the memory of Squall screaming Seifer's name. He could see Seifer arcing back as the bullets entered his chest, falling as blood splattered everywhere. Zell felt intensely guilty, even though he hadn't actually fired the gun, and he could tell that Squall blamed him, too. But, then he also thought of how Astor died, and it made his former friend look monstrous, so full of anger and holding a gunblade in each hand, ready to do the same to Zell that he'd done to Astor.

Squall continued to glare at Zell through the smoke of a fireball thrown from Ifrit's paw. He thought of Seifer's screams coming from Eden's mouth. He thought of the pain like his heart had been ripped out when he thought Seifer was dead. He thought of the pain that lingered in Seifer's eyes, and all over his face, even though he was trying to hide it because he didn't want Squall and Quistis to worry. Pain caused by people who claimed to have been their friends. Caused by this fucking place. Caused by Squall himself. A lot of his anger at Zell actually came from his own sense of guilt. He still blamed himself for calling Seifer for help back in Galbadia and putting him in this position in the first place. He blamed himself for Astor breaking Seifer's body. He knew he was using Zell as a scapegoat, but didn't care.

Squall let his wall spell fall, and immediately started running towards Zell. Zell had to do a back flip to avoid the two deadly gunblades. Zell was as fast with fire magic as he was with his fists, and that was the only thing that saved him from decapitation. He flung out a wall of hot magic, and it bowled Squall backwards. He went skidding down the hall towards the main part of Garden.

"Where's Quistis?" Zell demanded. He knew that his former teacher would be making her way to Xu's office, but didn't know how. Because her GF was Diablos, she was able to completely shield herself now that she was in Garden, surrounded by everyone else's magical signatures.

Squall pulled himself to his feet, oceanic eyes looking almost inhuman with anger.

"You gonna do to me what you did to Astor?" Zell asked as he dodged another double swing. He was normally chatty, but had the extra desire to fill the silence of battle, because Squall was frightening him, and he really needed to try and unnerve the other man or else he was going to lose the fight, messily and painfully.

Seifer's gunblade was a lot heavier than his own, and Squall couldn't use it quite as well as his own. Plus, he hadn't been practicing his swordplay lately and was underweight, so he found himself getting tired quickly. He knew that Zell's endurance and physical fitness were incredible, so this wasn't a good sign. He saw a thin line of red ooze up and stain the leg of Zell's pants after a swing of Hyperion in his left hand. He had to put up some defensive magic when he felt Zell starting to cast more fire, but then the short blonde man rushed him, and it felt like he was being hit by a car. Squall flew backwards as Zell tackled him, their bodies crashing to the floor. Squall lost his grip on Hyperion and it went clattering down the hallway, and the air went out of his body in one painful swoop. He felt something inside him crack, and knew it was his ribs, that had only been hanging on by a thread. The pain was intense, and Squall had to really struggle not to black out, especially when a heavy fist connected with his chin. His jaw, which also had a precarious hold on healing, resonated with the blow.

Zell was a smeary blur of colour above him, but Squall still arced his elbow up and it made contact with Zell's cheek. The move had been purely on instinct, and when Zell fell backwards, Squall rolled over and bit back a scream. He felt himself retch, and it tasted like it was mostly blood. He and Zell both struggled to their feet, and as Zell was righting himself, Squall rained lightning spells down on him. He knew that Zell had defences up, but it would still buy him a little recovery time, and more importantly, it would buy Quistis some more time. He started casting cure magic on himself to dull the pain, but knew that it wouldn't do the trick. He would need Tiernan to fix him up again. Squall was sure he'd be furious about it, too.

The room spun as Zell tried to right himself. Squall's elbow had rung his bell good, and the lightning spells crashing all around him, deafening him to Squall's movements, didn't help things. He blindly flung out fire magic, and the electrical barrage stopped, so he knew he must have hit Squall. Squall groaned and half-crawled across the floor towards Hyperion. He needed it in his hands. Having it thrown out of his grip seemed to symbolic. This gunblade was, right now, the last connection he had to know that Seifer was back in Esthar, waiting.

Zell could see that Squall was really hurt. He didn't want to kill Squall, but at least he could see a way to subdue him, because there was no way he could win this fight if it went on for too long. He kicked Squall in the ribs and then kicked Hyperion away. Squall made an inhuman noise of pain, but the eyes that glared up at Zell were full of anger.

"Why are you doing this?!" Zell demanded. He wanted any kind of answer, to make sense of this whole mess. When Zell moved to kick him again to try to completely incapacitate him, Squall gripped Zell's ankle as tight as he could. It was pressing Zell's shoe into his broken ribs and the pain was nearly blinding, but he kept holding on, and forced a heavy-duty electrical spell up through Zell's leg. The skin to skin contact made the spell extra strong. Zell's whole body jerked like he was a marionette, and he was flung backwards.

"Seifer suffered worse than that for days straight," Squall rasped out. His voice didn't even sound like his own because of the pain. Each syllable was agony, and breathing in made him want to just slit his own throat. "And, you ask me why I'm doing this."

"Seifer died in the Kashkabald!" Zell groaned. There was a buzzing in his ears that he was pretty sure was a very bad sign. He knew that Squall would kill him. He wanted retribution for whatever fantasy world he was living in, where Seifer was still alive. Where he hadn't killed Cid. And, because Zell knew that Squall was going to kill him, and that Squall was a better soldier than he ever could be, he pressed the call button hooked on his belt.

"Xu really does have you completely brainwashed."

"Xu would never do what you're accusing her of!" Zell shot back, groaning when he felt Ifrit take a massive blow from Shiva's magic. The hallway was filled with smoke and ice dust, floating among the black smog like little diamonds.

Squall's head jerked up when he heard the tattoo of many footsteps all running towards him. He slowly picked up Hyperion and knew that Zell had called for reinforcements. But, when he saw at least a dozen Galbadian soldiers, cold ran through him. Xu, you cunt, he mentally cursed, but it was with a begrudging admiration. If Squall died here at the hands of the Galbadian army, that would be exactly the fuel to start another war between Esthar and Galbadia. Did she really want to start another war just to keep her seat of power? To keep all her awful secrets?

"Put your hands up, Leonhart!" The captain of the small army force commanded from within his full face mask. He had his submachine gun trained on Squall.

Squall took in an agonizing breath and readied both gunblades. A wall spell charged all around him as he faced down this new threat. He thought of Quistis, crawling through the air ducts to face down her former best friend, and he thought of Seifer, suffering pain a hundred times worse than what Squall was feeling now. It gave him all the courage he needed to charge forward, headlong into a dozen Galbadia soldiers.

----

"Where is she?" Xu hissed, pacing back and forth in her office. She would periodically look down at the rug she kept stepping over. Nida was still down there. He hadn't been as compliant as she'd wanted at first, and Eden's magic fucked him up too much, so she'd started pumping him full of heroin. It left him malleable and agreeable, and utterly hers. He now needed her more than anything to keep his body flowing with drugs. He would do anything she asked for one more high. He loved her now.

"Perhaps somewhere underground. Quistis knows this building very well," Luchia murmured, ever calm and cold. She watched Xu's manic pacing with detachment as she clasped a thick file folder in front of her, not fidgeting with it in the slightest. All around Xu, the air was black and like a miasma. Sometimes, the silhouette of a human form could be seen within the swirling evil, and then other times silhouettes could be seen that defied what the human mind was capable of comprehending. Evil, demonic things that would have driven a person insane if they could understand what they were looking at. But, Luchia felt oddly calm, even in such a black presence.

"She should be dead," Xu said through clenched teeth.

Luchia knew that, between the lines, Xu was accusing her. But, she didn't care. The delicate onyx pendant around her neck seemed like a calming effect. It protected her from the revulsion of being in Eden's presence, and from being near Xu. Eden's power wafted out of every pore of Xu's skin. It made Luchia sick, that Xu had weakened herself to Eden like this. She'd once been so strong, and now she was reduced to a pathetic, paranoid tyrant clinging to her power by her fingernails.

"Go find her!" Xu shouted. The idea that Quistis was coming after her, and was actually in Garden, terrified Xu. She was going to lose everything because everyone around her was so incompetent.

"No."

Xu blinked and looked at Luchia. "What?"

"No."

"What?" Xu demanded again. Luchia had never said 'no' to her about anything.

"I said no," Luchia replied calmly. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her, and watched Xu with her cold, electric blue eyes. "I'm not going to help you anymore. You've fallen too far for me to respect you anymore."

"You're a SeeD, and I'm your commanding officer! You have to follow orders!"

"Yes, but not from you. I officially resign my post as a member of SeeD." Luchia looked away from Xu and focused on Eden. Would this thing even be able to understand? "Eillesste ti Cloathaica va Dia Mirama," Luchia chanted. She'd studied the words written for her repeatedly. They'd been written with the greatest of care, in complete phonetics. The importance of saying every syllable of a magical language that she'd never heard spoken before had been hammered into her. "Iramma aa Thuxia doth immalamei Chrism Dia Adel neraa Phaflora. Moiro ti Cloathica va Dia Mirama."

The air that hovered around Xu changed. It congealed, and the shape of Eden's human guise became solid. The thing's red eyes bore into Luchia, and she forced herself not to flinch away. She reached up and ran her fingertips over the onyx stone and repeated "Moiro ti Cloathica va Dia Mirama."

Eden's blood-red eyes continued to stare at her in a way that made her soul feel x-rayed, but Luchia didn't look away. Eden's mouth turned up in a hellish smile that put all the nails on display, black spittle threading between them like spider webs. Eden started to move towards Luchia, the power hovering around Xu like an aura being sucked away. Xu stood frozen, and could only watch as Eden now stood very close to Luchia. She was almost choking on the smell of rotting flowers and fresh sewage.

Eden's finger, with a rusty blade for a tip, reached out and grazed the surface of the pendant. Luchia suppressed a flinch and kept looking into Eden's eyes. Eden's human form nodded, and then exploded into a black, ugly cloud of magic, sucking into the pendant until the room was completely empty of its energy.

"Good luck in your duel with Quistis. You'll need it." Luchia turned her back on Xu, knowing that she would probably never look upon her again.

"Wait!" Xu shouted angrily. "You bitch! You traitor!" She screamed in desperation. She felt weak and cold now that she was separated from Eden's magic. She flung magic at Luchia, but it blasted off a strong wall spell that was surrounding her former lieutenant. Xu's whole casting hand went numb from the blow-back. The protection spell was no magic that Luchia herself was capable of, and it also didn't feel like Eden's magic. This was new magic, cold and powerful. Luchia opened the door without even acknowledgement to Xu, and made her way to the elevator. Nobody would stop her, because Xu wouldn't call for help. Because, then she'd have to admit she lost control of Eden. Luchia took he emergency route down so she could avoid being seen by a lot of people. It would be poor luck to die right now, after finally getting Eden.

"Everything's clear in this area!" A SeeD she didn't know informed her as she made her way through the dorms. She knew of a few clever ways out of Garden. It was ironic that some of those ways for sneaking out at night had been made famous by Seifer Almasy of all people.

"Good work," Luchia praised without looking at the male SeeD. She ducked into the janitorial closet that had a window for airing out the room when mixing cleaning solutions. She overturned a bucket and stood on it so she could jimmy the window open. There were delicate scrape marks around the lock from many a student escaping in this same manner to go into Balamb town and do some underage drinking, or to meet that special someone for more than just coffee.

Luchia wiggled out of the small window, careful to keep a tight hold on the file folder. It was nearly as precious as the onyx pendant to her new acquaintance. She dropped to the grass and made her way down the goat path that had been carved by students' feet over the years. It led down the hill in the direction of the beach, but she made a turn towards the woods. She only passed a couple of SeeD, but they didn't pay her much attention since they thought she was just going to check on something, and she was a way higher rank than them.

She started walking towards the woods, where she would be home free, but then temperature suddenly dropped, and the pendant burned where it touched her skin. She felt a shudder go through her entire body, and she went cold down to her marrow. She turned, and wasn't really surprised to see someone standing there, alone. It wasn't Squall or Quistis. It wasn't a SeeD or even one the Galbadian soldiers Xu had hired. It was Odin, and Luchia was so scared that she was eerily calm.

Odin had sensed the release and transfer of Eden's powers, and followed the unnatural feeling here. He'd expected to see Xu, but the fact that it was her lieutenant wasn't what surprised Odin. It was the strange aura that surrounded her. He pulled out his famous sword, and Luchia knew that it was pointless to fight back, or to run, but her instincts won out over her mind. She turned and bolted further into the trees. She couldn't outrun Odin, but she couldn't stop herself. She was like a snail being chased by a wolf.

Odin flung out a magical throwing knife towards her, but oddly it bounced off the air around her. When it did, Odin felt the magic vanish from his arm and he lost all feeling in it. Luchia kept running, branches snapping around her, whipping and cutting her skin. Her face stung where the branches drew blood, but she didn't dare stop moving.

"Miss Blackwell!" A voice called urgently from the trees. "Miss Blackwell! Come to me!"

Luchia recognized the voice as the man who'd met her in Fisherman's Horizon to give her the strange letter that started her on this path. She could feel Odin's immense magic pressing down on her, but somehow it was being kept all at bay, and she ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. Luchia rarely showed fear, but she was showing it now. She panted and whimpered and her whole body shook in the rare display of emotion.

"Miss Blackwell!" The voice was very near now. Luchia's electric eyes scanned the trees until she saw him standing amongst the shadows of the canopy, beckoning her towards him with outstretched arms. She could hear explosions in the distance from Garden as she practically tackled the man. He grabbed her, and his embrace was as cold as Odin's magic. His icy hand fumbled at Luchia's chest, until his fingers closed around the onyx amulet containing Eden's powers. His hand was so cold that her nipples immediately grew hard. When he whispered words that she didn't understand, black tentacles of magic seeped from within the stone, wrapping around them.

Luchia fought against her natural revulsion towards this seemingly undead envoy, and put an arm around his bony shoulders as Eden's magic whipped around them and created a barrier against Odin. Odin felt greatly weakened by this strange magic, and when he tried to teleport after Luchia, he felt his power ebbing away from him. Eden's magic, fuelled by the power of a new master, punched into him at full-force and blasted him into the summon realm, his sword-arm still completely numb.

----

The gunblades in his hands felt so, so heavy as he swung yet another arc at a rushing Galbadian soldier. Half of them laid dead all around him, and he, Zell and the soldiers all had lost footing at some point during this drawn-out battle because of all the blood on the floor. He was physically and magically exhausted, and Shiva looked on her last legs. She was looking thin and translucent, and he was sure she could only take a few more powerful hits from Ifrit before she'd be gone completely, and he'd be left on his own. And, if that happened, he wouldn't last more than a minute. At least Squall had more room to manoeuvre now. He'd slowly led the fight out into the main hallways of Garden, keeping the Galbadian soldiers in the hallway, creating a choke point.

His ribs were like a blowtorch, and each breath seemed like it would be the one that would cause him to black out. He wasn't able to hide that he was seriously injured, so his opponents made an effort to hit him in the ribs. He would have done the exact same thing. Squall was pretty sure that he might be doing some permanent damage, but he was a man possessed. Each time he involuntarily cried out in pain because he took yet another blow to his ribs, Squall could hear his jaw crunching and cracking in an ominous, unnatural way. Looked like it was getting worse, too. But, every time he thought the pain would consume him and he'd have to give up, all he did was look in Zell's eyes, and his rage festered again within him like cancer. He hated that Zell didn't trust him, and especially didn't trust Quistis. He hated that Zell had let himself be cowed by Xu. He hated that he'd let himself feel strongly for Zell, and it had been stomped on.

As Squall arced his arm and decapitated one of the Galbadian soldiers with Hyperion, Zell willed Ifrit to make a move. Squall was slower than usual because of the broken ribs, and that huge swipe with such a heavy weapon had caused him great, and obvious, pain. Squall couldn't help the scream that tore from him when Ifrit slammed into him like a burning battering ram. His left arm went numb, and Lionheart clattered to the floor. He groaned and tried to rise to his feet, but the guns of the six remaining Galbadian soldiers all were cocked and trained on him, and Ifrit's paw was pressing down hard into his back. It pressed his ribs into the unforgiving floor, and he coughed and retched up blood. Zell's lime green sneakers with their bright yellow laces were a smear of gaudy colour as he walked towards Squall and stood over him. Squall rolled his eyes upward and glared at his former friend.

"Come on, Squall. You can't fight anymore. Give up."

Squall's response was to spit more blood onto Zell's feet. He then bit back a scream when Ifrit's paw pressed down harder on his back. The summon kept grinding down until that scream finally came out, long and nearly inhuman. Squall's voice had a wet undertone from blood entering his lungs, but his blue eyes still showed cold defiance. The Galbadian soldiers started kicking him and pulling out billy clubs and whacking Squall in the back and sides. Zell didn't enjoy watching Squall get beaten, but it was going to be the only way to subdue him. Shiva cast ice magic against them, but her magic was wild and undisciplined because of Squall's distress. Ifrit roared and breathed fire at her. It was the last attack that she could survive, and she vanished to the summon realm, calling her master's name and reaching out for him as he still tried to struggle against the beating. Squall wouldn't submit, and Zell knew the Galbadian soldiers would kill him. He felt like he should stop it, out of whatever past they'd shared together, but this was the man who'd killed Cid, and was now here to kill Xu. Maybe he did deserve to die.

Ifrit's head suddenly reared up and he roared as there was a noise that was felt more than heard, rumbling through the floor like an earthquake. Zell's heart felt like Shiva's fist had reached in and clamped around it. It was Ifrit's fear he was feeling. A fireball tore through the narrow hallway, and the Galbadian soldiers were incinerated almost instantly, but not before their screams of agony echoed off the walls. Ifrit flung up a shield around his master as the fire washed around all of them, burning acidic and phosphorous and nothing like Ifrit's fires.

Ifrit's paw lifted off Squall's back, and he ran out towards the source of the new magic. Zell also ran out, and was shocked when he saw Ifrit leaping up towards Bahamut, who looked bigger and more powerful than anything Zell had seen before. Bahamut caught Ifrit in his jaws, and Zell cried out when he felt Ifrit's pain. Ifrit was thrown all the way across Garden itself, and exploded in fire when he hit the wall. Zell's knees buckled at the severed connection, and he felt frozen on the spot when Bahamut's glittering black eyes now focused straight on him. Fire licked from between his jaws, and the power radiating from the dragon king vibrated the whole floor.

SeeD, after getting over the initial shock of seeing Bahamut in this new state, started calling their GF to combat the new threat. Zell still stood in shock, but now he wasn't looking at Bahamut. He was looking at the solitary figure beside the dragon, dwarfed by his immensity. One of his legs was completely covered in a cast. His head was bald and his face was swollen with awful looking scars and stitches, blood running down his chin from his nose. His eyes were searching around as Cerberus bellowed and snapped at Bahamut with all three sets of jaws. The eyes scanning around urgently were completely white with blindness. Even with all these horrible additions, there was no mistaking the man that Zell had hated with such intensity for most of his life. Zell's jaw dropped and he forgot how to breathe as Seifer hobbled forward, still searching blindly.

A few SeeD who noticed this pathetic figure was actually Seifer Almasy, turned their attentions away from Bahamut and focused instead on who was controlling him. Seifer continued to limp forward in complete agony, ignoring any noises around him. Seifer didn't have to worry about the SeeD, because when any of them got near him, they were met with a brutal fireball from Bahamut, and the thick protective spell the dragon had veiled over the son of his one, true mistress.

"Squall?!" Seifer called, moving forward. Each time the cast-covered leg hit the ground and any weight was put on it, Seifer trembled in pain, but he kept propelling himself forward. "Squall?" He cried again. Bahamut had told him when Shiva had been defeated, and he'd immediately demanded that his mother's dragon teleport him to Balamb. He wouldn't just sit in some fucking wheelchair and let Squall die. The only thing that hadn't let the teleportation kill him outright was his dragoon blood, but it left him shaking and feverish, sweating profusely with blood running from his nose and dribbling out of his ears.

Squall groaned, hearing his boyfriend's voice. He curled his hands against the floor, sliding through the pool of his own blood. He struggled himself to a crouching position, tears streaming down his face and sweat drenching his back. He held the scream inside him that wanted to come out when he pulled himself to a standing position. "Seifer..." He tried to call, but his broken jaw made it really hard to form the best word in the whole universe. "Seifer!" He tried again. He didn't care that the pain from those syllables brought vomit to the back of his throat. Now he knew how Seifer had survived what Astor had done to him. Their love was stronger than any pain.

Squall ran forward, completely ignoring Zell. But, it's not like Zell would have attacked them then. He was too shocked to move. And, when he regained semblance of thought, he couldn't have attacked them, for the strangest thing happened. A small, white creature flew from within an air duct, and cast thick magic between Zell and the two other men. It was a moogle, of all things.

"Squall?" Seifer asked again, hand reached up in blindness, trying to find the other man. He found a wall and started to follow it. Sounds echoed, and he realized he must have gone down a close-quarters hallway. All he could smell was blood and smoke. And, he'd heard the pain in Squall's voice.

Squall was actually pretty mad that Seifer was here. He was putting his health in further danger, but right now he was just so happy to see him that he promised himself to be mad later instead of now. Seifer limped closer to the sound of Squall's grunts of pain, blood now covering the front of his pastel green hospital gown. Fire moved up his entire leg, but he ignored it when his outstretched fingers were clasped by Squall's own.

Squall's vision was blinded by agony and tears when he touched Seifer. Seifer's arms came around him, desperate to see him through touch. But, when that familiar embrace closed around his torso, Squall screamed and reared away. Many years later and looking back on this moment in the lifetime they would share together, Squall would count it as the only time he would ever shrink away from Seifer's arms.

"Kitten..." Seifer whispered, reaching up to touch Squall's face. Squall hissed when Seifer's fingers felt the massive swelling on one side of his face.

"Why are you here?" Squall demanded, finding some of that anger.

"Saving your ass, silly." Blood trickled into Seifer's mouth when he spoke. His leg was starting to shake badly, but he ignored it. That horrible scream of pain from Squall was all he was focused on.

"Kupo, kupo!" Serino exclaimed, agitated. "What have you both done to yourself?" He chided, casting some magic on them to lull their pain and staunch any bleeding. It didn't fix anything and would only be a bandage against the real injuries, but it would do until they got to a human doctor. He fluttered around them with worry, keeping his focus on the other human who was just standing there like a statue.

"Where's Quistis?" Seifer demanded urgently. His eyes instinctively searched behind Squall. He could sense someone else there, but their smell was unfamiliar, and hard to place within all this smoke. Zell flinched when those milky eyes raked over him without really seeing him. The scars on his face made Zell's imagination go to ugly places when he imagined how Seifer had gotten them. The photos of Astor's mutilated body went through his mind. He hadn't understood how Squall could have done that to another human being, but... had it all been true? Had Astor really caused all of Seifer's injuries, and more that Zell couldn't see?

"We split up," Squall answered tightly, speaking through clenched teeth. It just hurt too much to open his mouth, and his face was getting so swollen that he couldn't. He briefly looked beyond Seifer to the hall door. He couldn't see Garden's main concourse because of the wall of glimmering blue scales. "How...?"

"Later," Seifer answered, still searching behind Squall. Someone was still standing there. "We need to find Quisty." His hands held onto Squall's shoulders as he suddenly got dizzy from the blood loss from his nose. "Bahamut lost touch with Diablos. She might be in trouble."

----

"It seems like I have to keep hiring, and keep hiring, and keep hiring people to get rid of you. You're like a cockroach."

Quistis's head whipped around when she heard Xu's voice from behind her. She'd been moving through Garden's air ducts until she got near the Headmaster's office. Now she was here, facing her former best friend, knowing that one of them might die right here.

Quistis sucked in her breath as an anti-magic field went up. Diablos was forcibly sent to the summon realm, unable to remain junctioned to her. This confused her, since that meant Xu wouldn't be able to use Eden, either. The anger in Xu's eyes, directed all at her, still stung. She didn't know why she still cared. This woman had ruined her life. She'd put Seifer through pain that no human should have to suffer. She'd ripped Garden apart. She'd murdered Cid.

Xu stood with her sickles out, and Quistis gripped the handle of Save The Queen. She thought of Seifer and Squall, and of the tatters of her own life. Made to feel like a whore and drummed out of the only home she'd ever really known.

"I suppose only one of us will be leaving alive."

Quistis's fingers tightened around her whip as she and Xu slowly started to step towards each other. "Yes, I suppose that's true."