Author's note: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or its characters. This is AU.

Alliance

"Who the hell are you?"

He smirked at her. "You're a spitfire, aren't you? I'm the man who just saved your life. A little gratitude would be nice."

"I meant your name, moron." Quistis realized that she probably shouldn't be so angry with him, but it was either that or have hysterics.

"Seifer Almasy. What about you?"

"Quistis Trepe," she snapped back. "You can take me back home now."

Seifer snorted. "Right, and just let Martine nab you. Trust me when I say you wouldn't like that, sweetheart."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Besides," she gave him a scornful look, "how do I know you're any better?"

He smiled at her. "At least you're smart enough to be suspicious. But, seriously, Martine would very much like to kill me as well. You'll be safe enough with me. We can lay low for a few days, and then I'll see what we can go about getting you home."

"We? You and what army?"

"Come on inside, and I'll introduce you." He waved at the small building Quistis hadn't noticed before now.

Quistis sighed. She didn't see that she had much choice, and it couldn't hurt to go along with him for now. She followed him into the little cabin. There were two other people inside, and they both looked up from the table when they entered. One was a large man with dark hair, and the other was a silver haired woman who was young despite her hair color.

"You brought a girl home, Seifer?" the man asked.

The woman simply arched an eyebrow. Seifer rubbed the back of his neck.

"This is Quistis Trepe. Martine killed her father and wants her now. I figured she could stay here and lay low for awhile."

"Martine?" the woman asked.

Seifer nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what Adel is up to this time, but if Martine's involved, she won't be far away."

"You know Adel?" The question slipped out of Quistis' lips unbidden.

"Yes." Seifer turned to her. "How do you know her?"

"She keeps trying to buy my father's ranch." Quistis frowned as she said that then added. "I guess it's my ranch now. It's still not for sale."

"That matches with the rest of the stuff she's been doing, you know," the big man spoke. "She's bought a lot of land in the past six months."

Quistis frowned. "I'd noticed that too. It's not all under her name, but it is all linked to her."

"She's bought land under other names as well?" The man crooked a finger at her. "Come here and fill in what we've missed on the map. I'm Raijin, you know."

She offered him a smile as she sat in the seat that he indicated. A glance at the table showed a map with sections colored in and a lot of paperwork. It was clear that these people were serious about getting to the bottom of Adel's plan, whatever it was. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to lay low her for a little while. Any information she could get on Adel might help when it came to protecting her home. Squall and the others would take care of the ranch, and maybe she could find something that would let them put away Adel for good.

"I'm not sure I remember where everything is, but I do know the locations of most of Adel's claims."

Quistis wasn't going to turn away from allies when they were given to her. Even if Seifer Almasy was annoying.