The wind whistled sharply through the peaks of the mountains, buffeting against Squall as he made his way up the poorly marked path. He had come to a flat, round plateau in the rock face, amid the peaks of the range of mountains which rimmed the northeastern side of Balamb. Above him, the sky was darkened by night with clouds obscuring the stars; and below, the Garden was small in the distance behind him.

Even his SeeD training failed for an instant to detect the figure already standing on the far side of the plateau. He stood perfectly still, the grey of his coat melding into the rock and shadows, an effect which accented the striking blond hair and the metallic glint of the drawn blade which he held at rest at his side. Squall noticed that he was leaning ever so slightly toward his left leg.

For a moment, the two simply stared at each other. A gust of wind sent the grey trenchcoat flapping and rustled Squall's hair. He had a memory of a similar meeting that had taken place between them, more than a year ago now, under very different circumstances.

Finally, the other form drew up the blade, resting it on his shoulder while always keeping his eyes fixed on Squall. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"I had business to finish," Squall replied neutrally. His hand rested on the hilt of his own gunblade. "I came as soon as I could."

"Yeah?" He began to move, walking slowly around the edge of the clearing. Squall began to circle, keeping exactly opposite of him. "How's Garden treating you, Mr. Leader? Bored yet?"

"That's none of your business." Squall's voice was cold, toneless.

"Just trying to be friendly. I guess that's the problem with dreams, huh? They never seem to work out quite right in reality."

"Cut it out, Seifer. You called me, so now I'm here." Squall stopped, absently fingering his gunblade. "What happened in Timber?"

"It was a trap," Seifer replied. "She ran straight into it. There must have been fifty soldiers there, at the least; all special forces. I took out as many as I could get to, but they got her in a transport and drove off right away. She's alive, but I don't know where they took her."

Squall felt dizzy. A gust of wind hit him, and he stumbled, shifting his stance to keep his balance. His hand closed around the hilt of his gunblade, and he unhooked it from his belt. "You promised you'd keep her safe."

"Blame me if you want," Seifer said harshly. "If it weren't for me, she'd be dead a long time ago." His own gunblade returned to his side, though his grip remained firm. "Fujin, Raijin and I barely got out of there alive ourselves; we tried. Where were you?"

Squall ran at him, swinging his gunblade with all his might. Seifer parried, jumping back and assuming a fighting stance as Squall recovered for another move. "Don't you dare suggest I never cared!" Squall snapped.

"Why the hell not?" shot back Seifer. "If you cared about her as much as you say you do, you'd have been in Timber protecting her, instead of back in Garden playing cards with your orphanage gang!"

Squall charged again, hacking at Seifer without any pretense at technique; the blows were parried with ease. "I couldn't get away!" he shouted. "That's why I wanted you to go — to make sure nothing happened. And now you failed, and they've got her, you bastard!"

An unexpected reposte from Seifer sent him rolling on the ground. "I was shot three times trying to keep her out of trouble!" he shouted back as Squall got back to his feet. "I near died in that forest! You think losing her didn't mean anything to me? Believe it or not, Mr. Leader, I did not spend the last year looking after her as a favor to you!"

Now Seifer came for Squall, with a spinning slash which Squall could only barely deflect. Squall responded with a jab which forced him back onto the defensive, and thereafter the two blades seemed caged, unable to travel more than a foot in any direction without being stopped by the other. Tears were rolling down Squall's face as he strained to through all the force in his body into the blade; and he was vaguely aware that Seifer's expression was equally pained.

"If she really mattered to you," screamed Seifer over the flurry of blades, "You should have been there!"

"You should have protected her!" Squall shouted back. "You're making excuses, and the Galbadians have Rinoa!"

"I tried, dammit!" Seifer's attacks were becoming even more ferocious. "Where —" jab — "Were —" slash — "YOU?"

He swung his blade with a force that could easily have cut Squall in two. As the two blades met, Seifer's went off, and a bullet exploded off into the sky. Both weapons flew out of the combatants hands, clattering to a rest several feet away.

Neither Squall nor Seifer moved to retrieve them; the two collapsed to the ground in unison, panting heavily. For a long moment, they simply sat there, wordless, gasping for breath as the adrenaline left their system. Somewhere over the sea came a deep boom of thunder.

"You know," Seifer began again at length, staring down at his boots. "Right as they got her...she was calling for you."

Squall was silent.

"I can tell when she's thinking about you," Seifer went on, bringing his hand to his coat, grasping an imaginary necklace. "Your ring's still there, and there wasn't a day when she wouldn't stop what she was doing and just stand there for a second." He shook his head. "I used to ask myself why I spend all my time watchin' after her like this, and then I remember." He paused for a moment. "My dream was a joke, and my life was ruined, and there was nowhere I could go. She was all I had left, even if she didn't even know I was there." He looked up at Squall, but the anger was gone. "So how's Garden treating you?"

"There isn't a day that goes by," said Squall, "when I don't wish I could be in Timber fighting by her side, or that she was here with me. But even if I left Garden, way too many people know who I am. I'd do the resistence more harm than good, and bring the Galbadians down on them faster."

At least, he thought, that's what I tell myself. But maybe I was just...too scared to leave Garden. "But still..." He brought a gloved hand to his forehead. "I'd give anything to see her again."

They were in silence for a moment longer; then Seifer stood. "I came here to tell you what happened," he said. "But I'm gonna find her. I don't care if it takes me the rest of my life; I don't have much else to live for anyhow."

Squall nodded, wishing nothing more than to go himself. But he knew it was impossible. "...Good luck," he said dully.

Seifer walked over and picked up his gunblade, re-fastening it to his belt. Without another word, he started back towards the path that led out of the mountains.

"Seifer —"

Seifer stopped. Squall had stood, and was looking at his back. "Thank you," he said, almost croaking.

The words brought Seifer to glance back over his shoulder, fixing Squall with a cold glare. "Don't ever think I'm doing this for you," he said, then resumed his walk down the path.