Author's Notes (New): See the previous chapters to understand what is going on with revision. This, though, is where the real changes start rearing their heads, in Nida's relationships, dreams, and understanding of the world around him. It's not vastly different, but the changes that are there are IMPORTANT ones.
Author's Notes (Old): Okay, so this is the chapter that caused me to take such a long break from the story in the first place. There was about three drafts before this that combined what happened here with some of the things that happened last chapter. I actually replayed part of the game to research methods to access Winhill without Ragnarok. I mean I seriously put a lot of work into this multiple times and was never satisfied with how it was going. So here comes the latest attempt and I hope it works out better than other ones.
Hyne's War: Chapter 4
Nida knelt in the middle of a smoke filled room, his eyes darting around at the eight chairs that encircled him. Seated in all but two was a person clad in a robe of a different color. They were of thin cotton, something Nida was sure of because he too wore one, his pale blue. Before him a man was standing clad in a white robe, his arms raised in what seemed to be supplication to Hyne. Another man clad in red stood behind Nida to his right, a hand resting upon Nida's shoulder.
The touch made Nida look up, seeking the face obscured by the shadows cast by the red hood. The shadows and smoke conspired to make it too hard to see the person, but Nida could easily see the brilliance of the blue eyes of the man. There was something familiar in the light in those eyes, the weight of the hand on his shoulder, something sickeningly familiar.
"'Lijah?" Nida found himself saying.
"Yes, Great One?"
Suddenly the weight on his shoulder was too much, too confining, and Nida desperately wanted to be free. His whole body screamed to run, flee, fight, do anything not to be here among the ring of people. Before he could think his hand was coming up to grasp the red-clad man's wrist.
"Ow!"
The sound shocked Nida awake, his whole body growing tense as his eyes darted around to find the source of the noise and any possible threat. It took almost no time, though, to realize what had happened. One of the other men on the small boat had touched Nida's shoulder to awaken him, and Nida's years of training had him acting before he had awoken, acting against the real and dreamt contact by digging his fingers into the wrist of the man who had tried to awaken him. The twisting was likely what had caused the noise, and quickly Nida released the man. Instead of slipping into the normal lecture about caution around SeeDs, and gave a the man as good of a sheepish grin as he could feign. Telling them would give them too much information that could be spread about Nida's presence in Winhill. The last thing Nida needed was two sailors, who were transporting Nida and a small boatload of cargo meant to be delivered to Winhill since the ship itself was far too large for the shallows, to know that a SeeD was in the area. Sailors talked, and Nida wanted to have his arrival quiet.
"Sorry," Nida said, "I nodded off into a bad dream."
"Whatever," the sailor hissed. "We're about a minute out from the docks. I figured you would want to know."
And, probably, expected to get a tip for it. With a sigh Nida pulled out a few gil bills and handed them to the man.
"Make sure your companion gets his part. I wouldn't want him to think I shorted him," Nida said, pitching his voice just high enough to make sure that the man at the till heard him. All the better to make sure that the one Nida had handed the gil over to would indeed share.
The man nodded and retreated further back on the flat-bottomed boat while Nida got his pack and weapons together. Given a choice Nida wouldn't have gone on a low-profile mission like this with weapons that were obvious like his metal training bo and tambos. Yet since Nida had always brought weapons to Winhill, it would create more noise in town not to have them with him. After all, Nida tended to bring weapons so he could spend some time clearing out monsters near the village. With this supposed to look like a standard visit home, bringing the weapons became necessary.
Once they were within a few feet of the dock, Nida rose and leapt lightly from the boat, called a thanks over his shoulder, and strode across the wood towards the shore. Despite all of his years of residence in the Balamb area and all of the boat rides to and from Winhill, Nida had never been fond of the ocean, or any large bodies of water really. That added with the fact that it was nearly one in the morning local time made Nida ache for his long missed home and the comfort of a real, non-issue bed.
Even this late at night on the moonless night the walk along the stone and wood path the scaled the cliffs into the Winhill proper area, was an easy thing for Nida. Visitors might have hesitated on a night like this, with the only additional light being the dim bit of light that filtered over from the flat-bottomed cargo boat. Nida, though, had played on the cliff stairs since he was young, being one of the residents not of the main part of the village, but of the valley at the base of the short cliff.
It was called the 'valley of flowers' by the residents, and rightly so, Nida noted as he looked down into the valley he had called home from his place on the path atop the cliffs. This was a place few visitors to Winhill came or were welcome. There was a series of cottages that were as full of the perfume of flowers now in the summer as it would be in the spring. It was in one of those cottages that a women named Daphne Nomura had taken in and raised a young orphan to the best of her ability for the last years leading up to her death. Nida could see the cottage from here, and the sight almost brought tears to his eyes. Once he had come here every year. Now this was his first time in town since the last Sorceress War. How he had missed the place, the only one he felt could call home.
At last Nida started down the cliff, intent upon a quiet night before heading into the town proper to start his search. The inn would already be closed at this time, and chances were that Almasy might be there, so Nida had planned his trip around staying in a quieter location: the cottage Daphne had left him so long ago. The trip to the cottage from the top of the cliffs was almost a thirty minute walk along narrow paths cut into the stone, and the winding paths in the valley itself. By the time Nida reached the door, he was exhausted. Once inside the dark building he tossed his pack into a nearly chair and leaned his bo against the wall by the door. There would be no need for it here, and the only reason the tambo were left with him was because training alone would not let Nida leave himself unarmed, even in the safety of his own home.
One the way to the master bedroom Nida began to shed his clothes, comforting himself with the idea that tidying up could happen in the morning. Luck alone had the shirt fully off of him when Nida pushed the bedroom door open. Had he not, Nida either would not have heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air towards his neck, or he wouldn't have been able to free his arms fast enough to grab the tambos at his side and put up a defense. Nida had only enough time to grab the tambos and raise them in defense.
The blow landed heavily, straight on despite Nida's attempt to redirect the attack away. Sparks sprung from the contact of metal on metal, blinding in their momentary brightness. With his eyes stinging and his arms complaining from the weight pressing down on the guard offered by the two tambo, Nida could do little more than wait for his attacker to pull back just the littlest bit before Nida could move. Once the chance came, though, Nida found himself ducking into a roll that carried him further into the room, but away from the weapon, his only thought upon taking out the home invader.
Coming out of the roll, Nida raised the two tambo again, once more barely blocking an attack seconds before it would have cleaved his head in two. The next blow didn't even get Nida time to fully gain his feet before he had to stumble back a step, bumping into the dresser. There was the sound of rocking for a moment before something toppled forward, followed shortly by the sound of shattering glass. It only took a second for Nida to figure out what had likely fallen. That realization drew a curse. The only thing that had glass on the whole of the dresser was a picture frame, the only one in the house, and it had held one of only two pictures of Daphne. The last picture Nida had of the two of them together, and likely damaged now by the broken glass.
"You're going to pay for that!" Nida snarled before lunging forward to attack, his slowly adjusting eyes guiding blow after blow from the paired tambo towards the person's head.
Each blow came faster than the next, fury lending speed, and for a moment angry giving a sort of clarity that Nida had never before experienced. Yet all of it seemed to be for nothing, as each strike met the metal, sending even more sparks into the air, blinding Nida for heartbeats at a time. It took all of five meetings of the weapons for Nida to realize that not only was he fighting someone highly skilled, but someone on a level Nida had never faced before, someone above the level of even the three SeeDs Nida had taken to sparring with. Not only was the person keeping up with all of Nida's attacks, and blocking every last one, but each block was faster than Nida expected, reaching out just far enough that it was Nida, not the other person, who was using all of their energy. All of that, mixed with the colorful curse that came as Nida managed to direct sparks towards the attacker's eyes, confirmed Nida's fears of who he was fighting.
"Almasy," Nida gasped out, his hesitation causing him to hold back just a little on the next strike. That cost him dearly as the man took the chance to reclaim the offensive, pushing Nida back two steps before Nida regained the pace of the battle.
"What's it to you?" the voice, definitely Seifer's, growled.
The voice did what Nida's eyes were still not quite able to do, confirming Seifer's identity. Here he was, then, in the middle of what was once Daphne's room, fighting one of the best gunbladers, no, fighters, in the world. More shocking than that was the fact that Nida was somehow, just barely, keeping himself from injury.
"My name is Nida Nomura. I was sent to follow rumors about you."
"I figured that out when I didn't kill you with the first blow," Seifer responded, not letting up for a second on the attack, forcing Nida to dodge another attack. "That and your home invasion earned you this warm welcome."
Home invasion? What in the...?
Nida shook the thought off and as he dodged another blow he reached out to the GF that Squall had sanctioned for the mission, gathering up the proper magic, and releasing a stop spell. The magic took Seifer as he was moving forward to attack, and the momentum was more than the spell could handle, and carried Seifer forward, rigid, to crash into Nida. Luckily the other man's gunblade had been held just enough out to his side for Nida to dodge the edge of the blade as he was knocked to the floor.
With a grunt Nida pushed the frozen Seifer off of him, and quickly removed the gunblade from Seifer's now loosened grip. The thing, Hyperion if Nida remembered correctly, was far lighter than Nida had expected, something that Nida could almost handle single handed like the swords Elijah trained him with. Still, Nida grimaced at the black gunblade and moved to lay it on the now bare dresser top. Then, with a sigh Nida set about the task of shifting Seifer from the floor to the bed, an action that was met with many barely mumbled curses. That done Nida turned back to the dresser with a sigh, looking at the shattered glass on the floor.
"I'm not here to fight, Almasy," Nida sighed before tossing his tambo into a nearby chair and releasing the stop spell. Still, Nida kept his back turned, hoping that would be enough to prove his point even as he knelt by the fallen picture frame.
"What's this? SeeD now train maids instead of fighters?"
Nida paused for a moment before starting to pick up the pieces of glass and depositing the whole lot on the dresser beside the gunblade.
"I want to make sure the picture isn't hurt."
"It's just a picture of some woman and her kid."
"It's all I have left of Daphne."
"Daphne?"
"My mother. This is her home. No, was. It's mine now."
There was silence for a moment before Seifer spoke again, and Nida could hear the mocking edge in his voice. "Well that explains how you found me so quickly. Didn't expect SeeD to be so competent. And the natives here don't give up information very easily. Took me almost a week to find out this place was empty. You're a native then?"
"Relatively," Nida admitted, looking at the picture one last time before turning to stare down Seifer. "Adopted."
The blond nodded and readjusted himself on the bed. It was only then that Nida noticed that Seifer was wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers, and seemed in no way disturbed by this. Nida found himself unable to do anything but to make for the door and where he had dropped his shirt in the hall.
"Who'd have thought that the fucking fly-boy would be the one people were talking about when they said 'our SeeD' around here. Elijah's little buddy and trainee ends up being hero in someone's eyes. What is the world coming to?"
Nida frowned as he pulled on his shirt, and the importance of what Seifer said didn't strike him until he was back in the room, head and arms already through the shirt but yet to pull it on all the way. How had Seifer known that he was training with Elijah?
Seifer smirked, obviously reading something in Nida's expression. "It wasn't hard to guess that he was training you, considering how much time you spent with the ass. After all, I can't think of any other reason you'd hang around with the bloody idiot."
"He's friendly, unlike some people," Nida pointed out, but he did note the words that Seifer used. Apparently Squall hadn't been wrong about the bad feelings between Seifer and Elijah. But that wasn't the important thing right now. What mattered was dealing with Seifer being right here, right now. Did this mean that Nida should report to Squall now? Would Squall even appreciate it? Nida had heard he was far from kind when awoken early.
"He isn't fond of you either."
Seifer smiled and stretched out to take up as much of the bed as he could manage, which was an almost impressive amount, though the smiley-face boxers made him look anything but intimidating or impressive.
"So, what brings you here, other than seeking to bask in my glory."
Nida rolled his eyes. "I can't imagine anyone would want to bask anywhere near you, much less in your supposed 'glory.' SeeD has been searching for you ever since your departure from Balamb. No one really likes the idea of lacking a tab on the Sorceress Knight and..."
"Former," Seifer cut in. "I don't have a Sorceress I'm tied to any more, not since Ultimecia's destruction."
"What does it matter?" Nida said, annoyed at the interruption. The question earned a startling response. Before Nida could say another word, or even blink, Seifer was upright, one hand closing around Nida's neck and starting to apply the lightest pressure. What was more, there was a fire in the man's green eyes that sent a shiver of true fear down Nida's spine.
"It's real important. Means I've still got most of the power, but no leash. No one to tell me not to kill the little bugs that bother me because it isn't worth my time. Got it?"
"Got it," Nida agreed, and the pressure of the hand was instantly gone.
He did get it too, that it was more than what Seifer was saying. There was the implication there that brought to mind the most recent smoke dream. It wasn't about Seifer's control of himself, but the control the Sorceresses had over him. Seifer had always been independent, fiercely so. Bowing to the Sorceress's will must have been difficult for Seifer, even if it came with the promise of power.
"Good," Seifer said, backing away to sit once more on the edge of the bed. "Now, what was that about tabs?"
"People want them on you," Nida said, raising his hand to rub at his throat. "And I can't blame them. When rumors arrived in Balamb about a scarred man in Winhill, he gave me the task of seeking more information."
"That's it? Information. This is recon only?"
Nida nodded.
"Fly-boy becomes the new messenger, huh? Somehow I have a problem believing that. Why the hell would you bring weapons on a recon mission? Besides, better to send someone a bit more conscious of his surroundings than you were."
"I hardly expected to find you in my home," Nida pointed out. "As for the weapons, I always bring something home with me, spend a few days dealing with monsters outside of the village. The villagers would be more suspicious of me if I didn't. There would be less rumors that way, only word of 'Daphne's boy' visiting."
That only earned a shrug from the blond man. "I guess. But let's be honest, even if you did manage to survive all of that, there is no chance I'm going to let you bring me back to Garden with you. Without the princess himself and maybe two of his little elites there is no way you're taking me prisoner."
"Good thing those aren't my orders," Nida said, resisting the urge to point out that he was rather close to elite class himself.
It was a pleasure to see the Seifer's emerald eyes go wide in shock, but the pleasure did not last long, turning into an untrusting glare.
"Bullshit. Why the hell would Squall send you if not to bring me back?"
"Like I said, to find the truth to the rumors."
"And nothing more?"
For a moment Nida closed his eyes, his mind shuffling quickly through all of his meetings with Squall regarding this mission. Sure enough he found nothing more specific than a recon mission. There was, though, something Nida was willing to guess at.
"Maybe to remind you that Garden is still there."
"To what? Watch over the big bad Sorceress Knight?"
"No," Nida said, thinking back on the silence that he'd met with so often from Squall when he asked for something, anything more specific. "I mean, yes, people want us to do that, but I think there was more to it than that. And while I don't know what it is, I think you do. From what Irvine tells me of the early days of the Orphanage Gang, you always knew how to read what Squall wasn't saying. There's more behind my presence, isn't there?"
Seifer said nothing, but the scowl was enough for Nida to know he'd hit close to whatever truth there was in this. There was also something that said he wasn't getting the answer from Seifer anyway.
"Orphange Gang? What the hell?" Seifer said at last, turning his gaze away from Nida.
"It's what Selphie calls you all. The six of you that were in the Kramers' care."
"And you know about that? Does the whole fucking world know about that shit? You'd think our childhoods were just gossip fodder."
"Hardly," Nida said, moving to sit on the edge of the seat where he had lain his tambo. "People tend to look at Selphie in confusion when she says that, except for the other four and Xu. Most of what I know comes from Irvine though, the little bits he decides to share. I think he does it just so someone else knows without forcing him to remember everything for them."
That drew a small nod from Seifer. "Part of the reason I want nothing to do with this 'Orphanage Gang.' Last thing I want is my head picked for their damn memories. Not that you'd understand."
"I understand their point of view," Nida admitted. "I'd give anything to remember what it was like when I was that age. The GF use, there's been studies into it since the war, and it's looking like the fears might be well founded. Most of us don't junction unless it's absolutely necessary now. It doesn't recover what we've lost though. I can barely remember Daphne at this point and I lived with her for about six years or so. And I don't remember the slightest thing about my real parents, where I come from... Hyne only knows if 'Nida' is my real name. If I could find someone who knew my past, I think I'd do the same thing Selphie is."
Seifer shrugged. "Some things are meant to be forgotten."
"And some of it is stolen when it should be treasurered," Nida countered.
"You know, you'd be a real threat to security if someone ever captured you. It's almost amazing how much information I've gotten from you in these last few minutes."
"Information freely shared," Nida dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Something tells me there isn't really threat in telling you any of this."
"Are you saying I'm not a threat?"
"No. You're a threat. To my patience, my sanity, and above all my life. But I don't know about Garden."
"I've almost taken down a Garden before."
"Not one Squall all but ran for a year, and I don't think you're about to stage any massive strikes on Garden based on childhood memories."
"True enough," Seifer said with a smirk, though it faded as Seifer started to yawn.
"So," Seifer said as soon as he stifled a second yawn, "as much fun as I'm having right now, I'm done with all of this. No offense, but it's late and you interrupted my beauty sleep."
"I'm obviously not the only one," Nida mumbled, and it drew a smirk from the blond.
'Almost funny there, Nidulus," Seifer half-chuckled and Nida cringed at the nickname the other man had bestowed upon him almost three years before when Nida had first started to realize his interest in flight. Seifer, accusing Nida of having his head in the clouds, had decided that Nida needed a name that reflected it, and thus Nidulus. "But I'm going to sleep. And you look a little bit frazzled. Maybe you should too."
"Do you really expect me to just close my eyes and let you sneak off in the night?" Nida asked. "Especially after using my home as your hideout?"
"Your home?"
"Daphne left it to me in her will. But that isn't the point..."
Seifer shrugged. "Fine, if you want to yap more, leave it for morning. If it makes you feel better having me stick around until dawn, so the Ice Princess doesn't have your head for letting me go, though I admit I think you could handle him if you expected it considering you put up with me when it wasn't... Well, I'll give you my word that I won't run."
"I'm not sure I can put faith in your word."
That actually drew a genuinely offended look from Seifer. "Really? I'm hurt. Fine then, do whatever you want to make sure I won't go, or not without your knowledge. Set trip wires, tie me to the bed, whatever floats your little boat."
Nida rolled his eyes. "Only you would make that kind of joke out of this."
"Someone sure needs laid," Seifer chuckled before stretching out on the bed. "But suit yourself however you see fit. I assume you know where the other bedroom is if you need it. Bed's a bit small though..."
"I know that. I was a lot shorter when I was ten. I stay in here when I'm in town."
There was no witty remarks, no biting comebacks, nothing but silence as Seifer apparently thought. Eventually, though, the blond sighed and shifted so that he was resting on the far side of the bed, facing the nearby wall.
"I warn you that I might cuddle in my sleep."
Nida stared for a moment, unsure just what was being suggested, before it clicked. Nor was a pleasant click, the very idea of sharing a bed with Seifer was far from Nida's favorite. Sure, he had a body that anyone, especially a guy with Nida's background could appreciate, but the very idea of being so close to the man made Nida shudder. Still, there was little other choice than the couch or the floor. The first did nothing to allow Nida to make sure Seifer didn't slip out through the back, and the second was too painful after not one, but two long boat ridies for Nida to be even the slightest bit tempted.
So, with an aggrieved sigh Nida found himself finishing his earlier stripping down to his boxers, though this time he left his shirt on. With that done Nida carefully folded what clothes were in the room and put them on the corner chair before moving to lay down on the very edge of the bed, as far from Seifer as possible.
"Cuddle at your own risk," Nida sighed as he closed his eyes, blocking out the little bit of starlight that had been the only real light in the room. "I'm apparently all elbows."
"Aw, Nidulus, I'm hurt."
"You will be if you call me Nidulus again," Nida promised as he rolled onto his side, facing away from Seifer.
The last thing Nida made out was a chuckle from Seifer before he slipped into sleep.
Eight people stood together in a room, their faces all hidden by the shadows of the room and the hoods that obscured their faces well enough without the dimness of the lights. Each one, Nida knew, wore a robe of a different color without even needing to look. Instead he turned his attention to where the attention of most of those present was focused: upon the man in white. How Nida knew that it was a man, he could not say, but Nida was as certain of that as he was that his eyes were brown.
It comes, brothers and sisters, the time of the heir. He has been found, and amid what might be the greatest of the corruptions that walk the planet: those who would bend the power of the sacred guardians to their wills. But we shall liberate him, and in his benevolence and true to prophecy he shall guide us to the glory that our people have long sought.
The words sent the worst kind of shiver down Nida's back, but still he listened, drawn maybe by the clarity of it all. No smoke and fog ruled this place, and while there was muffling to the voices of the other seven, Nida could clearly hear the man in white, his voice gruff but victorious.
As Nida watched the attention of those assembled turned their attention to the one in red, and nodded or shook their heads at whatever their heard. A disagreement then, but over what he could not tell, distant as he seemed to be from the scene. It was like a pane of glass stood between him and the others, one that blocked out all of the sounds, save from the words that came from a microphone secreted on the white clad man.
It is time.
The words were a burning terror in Nida's mind.
Waking without an alarm to help was a slow process. Between the little sleep he'd had in the last few days, the late hours he'd kept recently, and the comfortable warmth at his back, there was little urge for Nida to awaken. A small part of his mind said that he should haul himself from bed, that that heat shouldn't be there, but Nida ignored it, too content to care. Instead he just reveled in the warmth at his back and the strong arm around his waist, letting his body relax back towards sleep.
"You know, I'm flattered, but I think that it is about time to wake up."
The voice didn't sound quite right, just too deep for Elijah's normal gruff morning voice, but Nida shook it off.
"Don't wanna get up. Too early. Go back to sleep, 'Lijah."
"Figured he was getting something out of you," the gruff voice chuckled at Nida's ear.
For a moment Nida tried to process the amusement, as well as what he meant. It took a whole three seconds for it all to click and for Nida, wide-eyed and awake, to pull away from Seifer, only to fall out of the bed in the process. Seifer, of course, started laughing.
"Just so you know, that was priceless."
"Shove it," Nida growled from the floor, glaring up at the blond looking down on him from the edge of the bed.
"Don't need to. You fell all on your own."
"Fuck you, Almasy."
"Sorry, I don't even begin to swing that way."
"Would you just shut up already?" Nida growled as he stood.
Seifer moved to swing his legs over the edge of the bed, smirking the whole while. "So, you're not going to deny it?"
"Deny what?"
"That you are sleeping with Elijah."
Nida sighed and looked away. It was too late to say no now. "Is that a problem?"
Surprisingly all Seifer did was shrug. "No. Not surprised though. Always struck me as the kind of guy to use the younger students..."
"You're wrong," Nida snapped, whirling on the blond. "You know, I've heard that you don't get along with him, but just because you and Irvine have a problem with him doesn't mean you can insult him just for shits and giggles."
Seifer held his hands in front of himself, eyes slightly widened, maybe from shock. "Woah, relax. Don't need you going for my throat, fly-boy. After last night I might actually worry."
There was a bit of sarcasm, though, and Nida just shook his head, straightening his shirt.
"You've gotten better," Seifer said as he rose from the bed, moving to the dresser and pulling a pair of pants out of the dresser Nida usually filled with his possessions when he was in town. "Just how senior of a SeeD did they send for me?"
"Twenty-eight," Nida said, though he felt no pride in it as he stood here before Seifer. The blond obviously deserved it more than Nida did himself.
"Really? Well, you've sure come a long way. And Ice Princess really is serious, to be sending out a big gun."
"When isn't he serious?" Nida mumbled under his breath, before stopping at the door to look back at Seifer. "I'm going to clean up a bit and have some rations before I get in contact with Squall. If you're going to disappear, do it now."
"Rations? Really? Squall must hate you to send you here, alone, to find me and with only glorified cardboard for food. If you'll put off the shower, I'll cook something up."
Nida stared for a moment, shocked.
"What?"
"I said I'll cook."
It was a kind thing for Seifer to suggest, but Nida had heard rumors around the Garden about Seifer's 'cooking.' The gunblader had once taken a cooking class—a secondary course to the basic requirements for all SeeDs so they could feed themselves on missions and hide basic poisons—on a bet. Apparently Seifer had discovered a way to work sleeping and paralysis powders into backed goods without sacrificing either potency or taste. Honestly, the underclassmen should have known better than to trust a Seifer bearing cookies. Yet, for all of that, Nida couldn't figure out why Seifer was offering.
"Why?"
"Consider it pay back for staying in your house and almost killing you and all."
"And how can I be sure you aren't planning something?"
"That story still getting around Garden?" Seifer chuckled. "First of all, what would I gain by it? Second, you can watch the whole thing if you want, and I'll even eat first."
Ultimately, given the choice between his rations and the risk of letting Seifer escape, Nida was more than willing to risk Squall's wrath this time around. The underclassmen had said, after all, that the cookies had been more than worth the sleeping powder.
"Fine. I'll trust you. I don't know why, but I'll trust you."
By the time Seifer called Nida down to breakfast, Nida had managed to clean up the minor mess he'd made the night before, and even grabbed a shower. After about three minutes of watching Seifer work on pancakes, bacon, and was preparing to make eggs, Nida had given in to the urge to tidy up. The shower, no matter how short, had been a true pleasure, giving Nida a chance to wash the salt from his body. At last Nida sat down at the table, just as Seifer was bringing a pot of coffee to the table, and placing some mugs beside it. In silence the two started into their meal.
"Nice place you have here," Seifer said after sipping at his coffee, black as Nida would have guessed.
"Daphne had more than a few years to make it comfortable before I came along. All I've really had a chance to do was preserve the place."
Seifer nodded and helped himself to more bacon. "I see why you were sent then. You'd blend in more easily than other SeeDs."
"Exactly what Squall apparently thought when he heard you were in town apparently. Winhill isn't very favorable to outsiders, after all."
"I noticed," Seifer grumbled into his coffee. "Still, I think they'd make a big deal about a local coming back into town. They did when Ellone stopped in a few weeks ago."
Nida raised an eyebrow at this piece of information. Apparently Seifer had been around longer than Squall had thought. Amazing that he'd been here so long without SeeD hearing about it.
"Don't be so surprised," Seifer said. "They weren't really fond of the SeeD Squall had stationed here either. Around the fourth day of me camping out at the inn someone suggested that I stay here. Said the owner hadn't been around in a long time."
"Not since the war," Nida admitted. "Things have been... complicated at best."
"Have to be for you to gain so many levels so fast."
Nida shrugged. That was hardly something he wanted to discuss with Seifer.
"So, what do you really think Squall sent you here for?"
"I already told you," Nida said, sipping at his coffee. "I don't know."
"Then guess. Put all that training and all those fancy classes to use and tell me. You did, after all, take that class on enemy psychology, yes?"
How Seifer knew that, Nida didn't want to know, but he sighed. "Yes, but Squall is hardly an enemy."
"Fine then, if you were on my side of things, how would you look at this?"
That gave Nida pause, and he wrapped his mind around it for a few moments before sighing. "Well, I'd think he recognized how talented you were. Unjunctioned you're better than anyone I've ever fought, and I've taken to sparring with Selphie, Quistis and Zell. That alone is a reason to try and tempt you towards the rank of SeeD. Whether you would take that or not, I don't know, but it is always possible. But more than that, I would think he wanted to protect you. A lot of people blame you for what happened back during the war, and now whenever something bad happens..."
"It's my name that comes up."
Nida nodded.
"I can't blame them for it either," Seifer admitted.
"I doubt Squall would think..."
"Who cares what he thinks?" Seifer asked, setting his mug of coffee aside, his green eyes hard. "Tell me, fly-boy, do you think I'm innocent?"
"Of what?"
"Any of what is laid at my feet."
"Yes."
Seifer shook his head. "Hardly. I'm no innocent, I'm a mercenary. Sure, maybe that bitch in Edea pushed me at first, but truth of the matter is that I didn't care enough to fight back. By the end I was more than happy to do anything she suggested because it meant power, recognition, glory. Maybe I was prodded, but it was my own desires I was pushed towards. There is nothing innocent about me. And I bet if you look closely enough at any of our so-called 'heroes,' you'll find the same is true of them."
Seifer leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. "The same is true of you as well I bet. None of us are angels. We're mercenaries. We kill for money. There is no redemption for us."
To that Nida had no response. How could he respond after all? Here was Seifer, claiming full responsibility for... well, Nida wasn't quite sure what. There were rumors, there were always rumors, but Nida rarely took them seriously. As horrible as Seifer had been back in Garden, Nida had never felt that he was a truly horrible person—save for the day they had first met, and that feeling had long since passed. Something had always told Nida that there had been something forcing Seifer, something that drove him to do something uncharacteristic, because as cruel as Seifer could be, he was never that violent, that malicious. Right? But now Nida didn't know what to think, about Seifer or himself.
"Maybe you can only be redeemed if you reach for redemption," Nida suggested, though there was little in his voice that hinted that he was confident in his words.
Seifer shook his head, reaching out to pick up his mug once more. "Somehow I doubt that. Now, finish up your damn breakfast. I don't make good food to let it go to waste. Then do whatever you need to do about Squall."
Nida frowned down at his plate, at the few bites left, and sighed.
"I really should send him a report."
The blonde rose from the table, taking his mug with him. "Well, let me know when you're done with that. Oh, and do the dishes. I cooked, you clean."
"Where are you going?"
"Shower," Seifer said. "Want to be all dolled up in case Squall sends the execution squad to bring me in."
"He wouldn't do that, you know."
"I know."
The words almost sounded sad.