Author's Notes (New): If you don't get the point by now, I think you need to go back to the prologue and try again. More MAJOR changes start here, including a new scene at the beginning, more time with Seifer, and even in the way the end is brought into play. But still, a powerful ending chapter. Funniest thing, the length comment below definitely has changed. The chapter is now about twice as long word count wise.

Author's Notes (Old): Major chapter ahoy! Not for length, but for plot. Whoot. Been trying to get here for a while. Honestly, I'm not sure as I start this where I'm going to break off this chapter, but I fear it will be a cliffhanger no matter how I do it. This is just a part that lends itself too beautifully to such a thing.

Hyne's War: Chapter 5

The lilies were beautiful, as they ever were, against the pale gray granite of the small stone set into the grass. It was the way that the white of the petals brought out the darker grains in the stone, the way they made the black inked into the carved words, made the whole thing all the more lovely. Daphne would have found the whole thing rather attractive, though Nida hated to think like that. It was a little too morbid to think of the woman who had been his mother looking down upon her own grave. Hyne knew that Nida hated to look upon it himself.

"So people really do this?"

Nida tried not to grit his teeth as Seifer spoke, breaking the reverend silence that always seemed to fill the air in this place. Normally the place was filled with only the sound of world around him, and Nida had always been thankful of that. Words always felt wrong here, at least they had to Nida.

"Really do what?" Nida asked, failing to do anything but grit his teeth in frustration.

"Leave flowers on graves. People really do that?"

"I don't know much about other people, but I have seen flowers on other graves here."

"Are they always white?"

"Usually, why do you ask?"

Seifer made a gesture—a wide, sweeping one that seemed to encompass the whole of the area that was used by the village of Winhill as a cemetary—and Nida quickly understood the question. Many of the graves had a bundle of white flowers, calla lilies if Nida remembered correctly, set before them. Nida had opted for true lilies as they were Daphne's favorites, but it seemed many other residents chose calla lilies.

"Calla lilies," Nida said, standing from where he had knelt to place his own flowers. "They were developed here by a woman named Raine. It's said that no one grows them quite like she did. Anyone in the village will happily tell you that no one knew flowers quite like her."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Really? Somehow I have trouble believing that. The flowers in that shop seemed to be rather good."

Nida frowned, shocked that Seifer had even been paying attention in the flower shop. It had been one of the intended stops Nida had made in town, and with each stop Seifer had grown more and more impatient. Chances were that it had been because Nida had sent a coded message to Squall after breakfast about his encounter with Seifer. Apparently Seifer had expected a quick response or something, though Nida had explained that Squall was likely at the retirement celebrations, obligated to attend due to his rank. Propriety meant that Squall wouldn't be able to get free to receive and respond to the message until well into the evening. When Nida had announced that he was heading into town to deal with some business, Seifer had followed, as if waiting for Squall's response.

By the time they had gotten to the flower shop Nida had found himself forced to explain Seifer's presence more than once to people he had known since childhood, and who frowned at the pair in disapproval. An unexpected border, had been Nida's explanation, and most had taken that in stride, had politely accepted Nida's attempts to introduce Seifer to people as if he expected the blond to be remaining in Winhill for a long time, and didn't question Nida or Seifer about anything. Whether they had truly let up on their curiosity over the years, or they were just not willing to ask things of him now that he was a SeeD, Nida wasn't sure.

"Daphne used to tell me that the quality dropped off when Raine took over the pub. I wouldn't know though. Raine had died years before I came to Winhill."

"And people still talk about her?"

"In a small town people always remember beloved friends, and scandals."

That seemed to draw Seifer's attention, and Nida soon found the blond's green eyes directed at him.

"Scandal? How so?"

Nida sighed, realizing that now that he had even implied anything he would be bound to tell it to Seifer. The gunblader was far from the kind of person that would let things go.

"Raine fell in love with a man whose life she saved, and married him. Most people thought he was nice enough, but when Raine's adoptive daughter was kidnapped, he went to save the girl. The problem was that Raine was pregnant at the time, and apparently hadn't told him. He managed to find the girl, and sent her back to Winhill, but didn't return himself. Raine died giving birth to their son."

"That's scandal all right. But who'd kidnap a girl from a town like this?"

"Sorceress Adel."

Seifer blinked once, twice, and then frowned. "You mean Ellone? I knew she was from here but... And that would mean..."

Nida had to give Seifer credit, he was quicker on putting things together than most people would expect.

"Squall always called Ellone 'Sis,' but he did it long before the rest of us. They were already at the orphanage when I came there, and I was only about three when I was brought to Edea."

"No one in Winhill could take both Ellone and Squall in, so Edea did from what I understand. In the end I think that Squall's father decided they were better off with Edea than they were with him."

"Probably true if the idiot let Ellone get kidnapped in the first place."

"Well, where he found her was apparently no safe place for her, and he got tied up there for a while."

"And where in the world could that be? Esthar?"

"Where else would you expect Adel to take a girl with Ellone's talents?"

Seifer sighed and shook his head. "Next thing you know you're going to tell me that the inept man they call a President over there in Esthar is Squall's father or something."

Nida couldn't help but laugh, and Seifer's dirty look lasted only a moment before understanding reached his face.

"Hyne. You're kidding me. Loire?"

"Few people know it really. President Loire and his friends, the Kramers, Squall... And all of Winhill of course. Not that most of them connect Laguna with Esthar. I knew about it before I even came to Garden."

"And you never told the Ice Princess?"

"How could I? I didn't know Squall, didn't know that he had no clue who his parents were, and would have had no way to broach the topic even if I did. Can you imagine me walking up to an eleven year-old Squall and telling him that I'd heard lots of stories about his parents? And, over time, the fact all but slipped my mind. Chalk it up to age, distance, or GFs if you want to, but it never occurred to me until Squall's trip to Esthar found that Laguna was the President. At that point it became his father's responsibility to tell him, and that didn't come around until after the war."

"No one here told him? I've heard that he's passed through once or twice..."

Nida shrugged. "Squall's a stranger here. No one knows him, and while they likely would have recognized the name, Squall probably didn't share it with anyone."

"Still,I could have chosen a better place to hide out," Seifer said after a moment. "Laguna or Squall could have visited at any time. The people here don't recognize me, but they would."

"Hardly likely. Squall rarely comes here, and Laguna, from what I understand, focuses certain places. If you stayed in the valley, you would be fine."

"And yet you found me anyway."

Nida opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the tell-tale beeps in his pocket that indicated a message on his comm. He couldn't help but frown at this, because from his best estimate it should only be three or four in the afternoon in Trabia, far earlier than Squall should have been free of his obligations at the retirement celebration. In truth, Nida had not expected anything for at least another three hours, and that he expected to be a short conversation, not a coded message as the beeps indicated. Quickly Nida raised a hand to gesture for Seifer's silence even as the blond opened his mouth to question, and pulled the comm from his pocket. Without waiting for Seifer's compliance, Nida pressed his thumb against the screen to satisfy the first phase of the ID verification, then thumbed in his code.

A sense of dread filled him when, after the code was verified, the comm screen went black again, white words prompting Nida for his oral access key, to be followed by A level clearance ID, which Nida had never been asked for before but he knew involved a retinal scan.

Quickly, quietly enough so that the comm wouldn't read it of course, Nida cursed.

"Sigma sigma three seven mu zero alpha," Nida rattled off and raised the comm to eye level for the retinal scan.

"Shit," Seifer agreed as he watched Nida go through the whole thing. "What in the world...?"

Finally the comm made a confirmation beep, and Nida pulled the comm back to look at the coded message that flashed across the screen. The letters and numbers instantly decoded themselves in his head, but the message barely registered, almost too impossible to believe.

"Recall. Highest level authorization."

"And when are they sending your retrieval?"

"They already have. Arrival in two hours by flier."

"Sounds serious."

"Specified recall of that," Nida said, quickly thumbing in his coded confirmation before closing the comm. After a moment, though, Nida flipped it open and sighed as he punched in the number for the command center in Balamb.

"What now?"

"Quistis is going to have my head," Nida mumbled as he put the comm to his ear. "Whatever is going on, she's going to be looking for me."

"Why?"

"No one but Squall knows where I am or why."

The comm rang for a few moments before Quistis's voice came through, borderline frantic.

"I swear to Hyne, Nida, I am quite close to recommending you for a court martial. Where in the world are you? I've called your room three times and I was about to send someone to your room to..."

"Quistis, let me explain," Nida started to say, but her words rolled right over his.

"Who do you think you are, leaving Balamb without telling anyone where you were going? In fact, how dare you leave without..."

"Quiet mission," Nida said, and sighed in relief as Quistis's words stopped abruptly.

"Who authorized?" Quistis asked, her voice obviously trying to stay calm.

"Squall. Now, what is going on? I have a recall order from Squall..."

"You don't know? Nida, where in the world are you if you don't know...?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss that at this time," Nida responded with a sigh. "Please, just..."

"I can't quite explain it. You'll see when you return. I assume Squall sent orders for your retrieval."

"Yes. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Don't worry, Squall is obligated to remain in Trabia until evening. If you're lucky you'll get in at the same time as him."

"And you can't tell me anything?"

"There was a video... aired worldwide in the middle of the retirement celebration. To put it simply, the message isn't exactly appreciated. Xu is currently attempting to head off the broadcast, but whoever did it managed to hack some major systems to get it aired. All senior SeeDs not on priority missions are being recalled. Squall has decided that those SeeDs acting as an honor guard will remain, though..."

"Which leaves us, Squall, Zell and one or two others?"

"Not quite. Most of the mid-twenty level SeeDs are out on longer contracts, and are unavailable at this time."

"A crisis with only four people then?"

"We've faced worse."

"I'll see you soon Quistis."

With that Nida hung up and sighed before pocketing his comm. Seifer, surprisingly enough, didn't say anything, and had stood by silently through the whole conversation."

"Well, I've got a bit of time. Maybe we should discuss payment..."

Seifer frowned, his face almost scrunching up in confusion. "Payment? For what?"

"Staying in my home."

Two technicians rushed forward as Nida cut the power to the engines of the small flier and broke the seal on the cockpit. Soon enough the two were moving small stepladders to either side of the flier and moving to carefully lift back the glass as Nida removed his seat belts and the flight comm he had been wearing. Nida gave himself just a moment to catch his breath before hauling himself from his seat and onto the ladder. Seifer, ever impatient, placed a foot on the edge of the cockpit and then leapt to the ground. You could always count on Seifer to make a showy entrance.

"Where are we going?" Seifer demanded even as Nida pulled one of the techs aside and gave them orders to have someone transport the bags and weapons in the small storage area to the smaller meeting area next to the main conference room, where Nida and Seifer could pick them up later.

"Conference room on the basement level," Nida responded, accepting a folder from the other technician.

"What basement level?"

Nida sighed and shook his head. There had been little time on the flight to deal with Seifer's questions, and Nida had only had to let the flier hit some rough turbulence once for Seifer to take the command for silence seriously. Nida had held back his urge to chuckle at finding that the tough blond was uncomfortable with flying, focusing instead on his work. While Nida had no doubt that he could fly the small two-man machine without much problem and still hold a conversation, he had always preferred to give the whole of his attention over to flying.

Granted this time he'd been unable to fully focus, thinking as he had about Seifer. On their way back to the cottage from the cemetery, Seifer had abruptly declared that he was going to join Nida in returning to Garden. No matter how Nida had pressed, the blond had given no reason beyond 'sounds fun,' and Nida had found himself trying to figure out just why Seifer was suddenly willing to return to Garden. Odder still, Seifer had not pushed for much information while they had been packing, and had taken what perishables were in the house over to a neighbor, a sure sign that he had least had no intention of returning any time soon. It had almost been as shocking of a decision to Nida as Seifer's presence had been to the pilot who had flown the flier to Winhill and had been left behind so that Seifer could be taken in his place. Nida had called in another flier to pick up the youth, but it would only be getting there in the next thirty minutes or so, leaving the boy stranded in a clearing outside of Winhill for hours.

"At about the time of the missle launch," Nida said in answer to Seifer's question, "we discovered not only the MD levels where all of the machinery that makes Garden fly is, but a basement level inhabited by a Shumi elder named Norg. Turned out he financed Garden, and while we'd all seen his name in such an effect in the terminals, no one knew he lived in Garden. He attempted to take over the Garden by force during that time, and Squall, Zell and Rinoa had to... put him down to save their lives. He was going to give their heads to Edea, Cid's too. After the war the level was renovated, with special rooms for training in magic or private sparring for upper level combatants, as well as a new conference room for handling the new SeeD Council that Squall established. If we're meeting anywhere, it's there."

In the time it took Nida to explain he had already strode from the landing area to the Garden proper, and was guiding Seifer through back hallways towards a staircase that would lead to the lower levels.

"Not taking the main elevator?" Seifer asked as Nida placed his hand against a hand scanner to unlock the stairwell door. No one was allowed into the lower levels without clearance or special permission.

"To be honest, I think it would be best to keep you out of as many eyes as possible right now," Nida responded as he held open the door for the gunblader. "For all I know this might involve you in some way, or people might try to pin it on you. The last thing I want to be doing right now is trying to keep a student or SeeD from getting hurt because they assaulted you."

"Well, at least you aren't going to claim that I would need protecting."

"If we're lucky, you won't."

The two flights of stairs passed quickly and soon enough Nida found himself pushing open the conference room door. Even as he stepped into the room and tossed his briefing folder to his spot at the table, he began to reach for Siren in his mind. The timing was almost perfect, the silence spell settling on Zell just as Seifer entered the room behind Nida and Zell leapt to his feet at the sight. The faint flash of light from the spell seemed to go unnoticed at first, but Nida could almost feel the way the attention shifted from Seifer and Zell to himself when Zell rose his fists and opened his mouth to shout, only to find he had no voice.

"I returned as quickly as possible, Sir," Nida said as he saluted to Squall, acting as if nothing had happened. "As you can see, I managed to make contact with my target."

Squall raised a slender brown eyebrow as if to ask whether Nida thought him blind or not.

"Due to the apparently urgency of the situation and lack of orders regarding what to do if I managed to convince him to return, I decided to bring him here..."

"This was your quiet op?" Quistis demanded from her place at Squall's side. "Why wasn't I told?"

"I did not feel it was necessary," Squall answered. "Thank you Nida, you may sit. Zell, you too."

Nida quickly moved to his seat, glad to be out of the intense scrutiny that Squall now turned on Seifer. The blond, though, seemed utterly indifferent to it, taking the chance to lean against the door frame, smirking that infuriating smirk of his.

"And me? And don't try to pull that kicking me out of here shit. No way I'm leaving when you've got all of this hush-hush going on. Unless, of course, you want to try to remove me yourself, Ice Princess." Seifer said, at the same time sounding as if he could care less what happened now and yet amused at the idea of Squall trying to force him to do anything on his own.

For a moment Squall was quiet, then he closed his eyes and sigh. "Sit. You might be useful."

It was Seifer's turn to raise an eyebrow, though his was more in puzzlement. "Now I'm reluctant. Things have got to be bad if you think I'll be anything other than a pain in your royal ass."

Zell seemed to agree with the comment, the way he was punching at the air.

"Can someone do something about chicky? He's going to give himself a heart attack just from the joy of seeing me."

At a gesture from Squall, Quistis pulled a vial of rosy fluid from an ever present medical pouch at her side and tossed it to Zell, who downed it eagerly. The effects were quick, and soon Zell was opening his mouth again to say something, only to be cut off by a sharp look from Squall, something that amused Seifer to no end.

"Nice to see you've got him on a leash these days."

Nida rolled his eyes but barely paid any other mind to Seifer's comment, instead turning his attention towards Squall. "So, would someone care to fill me in about this broadcast Quistis mentioned on the comm?"

Instead of speaking Squall flipped a switch that was just under the edge of the table where he sat, and in response a screen rolled down from the ceiling on the other side of the room, leaving just enough space before the door to let someone slip in. Quickly it was filled with an image that Nida could do little more than flinch back from. On the screen were eight people in shadows, each in a differently colored robe. They were seated, still as statues, in a half-circle, save for a man in white, who was standing before the others, with all attention upon him. Memories of kneeling in the smoke, a white robed man before him, made Nida's stomach squirm.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of the world," the person in white spoke, his voice heavily distorted. "We are the Council of Eight, the leaders of the long forgotten tribe of the Zebalga. And today is a day of rejoicing the whole world over!"

"You're bringing us in for..." Seifer said from the seat he had taken beside Nida, only to be shushed as Nida kicked the back of his chair.

"For today," the man continued, undisturbed by Seifer's words, "the prophecies come to pass. That which we have so long sought has been revealed to us. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we have discovered the truth of the guide, and soon we shall come to show the world the true glory of our people. Know now, all of you who would seek to defy us, that you will be put into your places. The age has come where you shall once more prosper under the kind and just rule of the Zelbagan kings of old, and war shall be unknown if you but accept us. Today is the day of our destinies, and soon all shall revel in our glory! Rise up, my brothers and sisters, rise up and look upon the future!"

Then there was silence, though the voice still echoed in Nida's head. How could it not, when the words were so like those he had known in his dreams? If they were ever able to clear up the distortion, Nida was sure that the voice would sound the same as the one in his dream. It was ridiculous, but he was certain of it.

"Yeah, I saw this too," Zell said, rolling his eyes. "Ma kinda laughed at the whole thing. Ridiculous if you ask me. Seriously, why are we concerning ourselves with this? Is this really important enough to ruin my free weekend?"

"Other than the fact that no one knows how the broadcast system was hacked to release this message? And that the hacker was good enough to foil some of Xu's attempts to control it and keep it off of the international computer networks?" Quistis countered.

"These people are obviously setting themselves up as a force in the world, or want us to believe they are capable of such. Chances are this will either cause a fruitless panic or a legitimate problem we'll be called in to deal with," Nida offered, trying to ignore the fact that the whole thing was too much like his dreams lately.

"And because the Zebalgans are one of the biggest batches of crazies that the world has ever known."

That comment, as casually tossed out as it was, brought everyone's attention to Seifer.

"Do you know something about the Zebalgans?" Squall asked.

The blond smirked and leaned back in his chair, looking smug as all hell. "What? You don't recognize the name? It really is a good thing for you that I'm here then. Who would have thought the good guys had such bad information..."

"Seifer..."

Squall raised a hand as Zell made as if to raise, looking ready to jump over the table to punch Seifer. "Seifer, whatever you know would be very useful for us."

"What's in it for me?"

"Not getting your head beat in," Zell growled.

"Seifer, please."

Seifer seemed shocked for a moment, the word 'please' coming from Squall and directed at him probably being something of a shock, but in the end he nodded and sat up straight again.

"I heard about them back when I was Edea's knight. One of the reasons that she didn't go after the Gardens before she revealed herself, taking advantage of surprise, was because she didn't consider SeeDs a threat apparently. At least, not like the Zebalgans. One of the first tasks she set me to was dealing with them as best I could. See, they don't much care for Sorceresses, or Daughters of Hyne as they call them. These cultic freaks like to believe that old story about Hyne's body and magic and all of that shit and claim descendency from the ancient Zebalgan King. Thus they view themselves as the rightful heirs to the power of Hyne. Problem is that they can't find the true power of the body of Hyne or something. They want to use that to rule the world, as you can clearly see."

"So what is this guide they are speaking of? A book or something that would lead them to this power?" Quistis asked the question everyone probably had on their minds.

Here Seifer shrugged. "Got me there. Edea only told me what she knew, or felt like sharing. Ultimecia might have known more but she can't exactly share. All I know is that the full story and legends and all of that are only shared within the bloodline, and that is supposed to be scattered. Could be they have a book, a tablet, or anything."

"The guide is a person," Nida said, shocking himself with his words. He hadn't meant to say anything, but the words came out anyway, and they felt right.

"Why would you say that?" Squall asked.

Nida took a moment to scratch his head, trying to come up with a reason other than a gut feeling. At last he latched onto something, a memory of the story Elijah had recently told him.

"It's a person," Nida said with more confidence. "The heir."

"Heir? To what?" Zell asked.

"I'm not sure. The power of Hyne maybe?"

Nida could see Quistis reaching for her whip out of the corner of his eyes, probably thinking the worst for his seeming knowledge without reason. The fact that he had been away during the hacking probably hadn't helped, Nida being one of the other top hackers in Garden.

"Don't look at me like that. It's mentioned in the Legend of Vascaroon, isn't it? A children's tale. Hell, there is even a book with it in the library. Okay, maybe not that one, but it is in some variations of the story. In fact just recently I heard it from..."

Nida trailed off, frowning. Elijah had only recently told Nida the legend, and while Nida had tuned it out, he was sure he had heard something about an 'heir' in it. Yet that half remembered story along with his dream, the certainty that Elijah was the man in red... Nida shook his head.

"Who?"

"Elijah. He said it was his favorite story when he was young, but that people don't tell it right. He started telling me about it and I think he mentioned something about an heir. I don't know, I might have heard him wrong, I tuned most of it out. I was tired..."

"We'll ask him about it upon his return tomorrow. He might be able to give us more information, or at least a better idea of what we're looking for. Until then, Quistis, Zell, you already know what I need you to do. Nida, I would like you to try and figure out the source of this video. Xu was able to lock it down to a degree, but there wasn't enough time to track. If you turn up anything, report immediately. Upon her return, Xu will assist you. Keep your eyes on the networks, though, there is no telling whether there will be more videos, but if there are I want them stopped."

Nida nodded, stood, and picked up his folder. "And you, sir?"

"I'll be dealing with our... guest," Squall said, his eyes riveted on Seifer.

The next night found Nida collapsing into his bed, utterly exhausted despite the fact that he had spent almost all of the day in the same rolling chair. While Saturday hadn't been too bad, save for Zell's constant grumbling about Seifer, Sunday afternoon had found another video released, just before the return of those who had gone to Trabia. No matter how hard Nida had worked, though, he had been unable to fully suppress the video until Xu's return. Only working together had they been able to stop the looped broadcast, which had made barely veiled threats towards the Sorceresses Edea and Rinoa, as well as towards people like Ellone. The white clad man had even blatantly called out SeeD, and now some groups were questioning Balamb Garden about what they knew of the Zebalgans, much to Squall's annoyance. Nor that they could have given people much, with everything they knew based on what Seifer remembered, the scanty history in some old library books, and the Legend of Vascaroon in an old book of myths. Elijah hadn't been much help either.

Elijah on his own had almost created another fiasco, or so Nida had heard from Seifer—who was being referred to as a 'special advisor' regarding the matter. Apparently the second that the red-haired SeeD had left the Ragnarok, Squall had moved to meet him, pulling him away from the other senior SeeDs. The questions had not gone well, Elijah giving only clipped responses and claiming to know nothing about the Legend of Vascaroon when first questioned, and even when told that Nida himself had admitted to Elijah's telling it. Selphie and Irvine were put in charge of keeping Elijah under house arrest until Squall had time to question him more, mostly because of his lying than anything else. All Nida had heard about subsequent questioning was that Elijah was accusing Squall of persecuting him for knowing a myth, and that he hadn't wanted to get in trouble for hearing a non-standard version.

In all of that time Nida still hadn't had a chance to see Elijah, though that was more likely because of his work with Xu than because of any real suspicion towards Elijah or himself. Then again, Seifer could have told Squall about the relationship for all Nida knew, and Squall could have been contriving to keep them apart for other reasons.

With a sigh Nida rolled onto his side, turning his attention to getting to sleep, despite the last thirty minutes not having yielded much on that battle front. Maybe he just wasn't being honest with himself in the very struggle for sleep. Something in the air was just putting him on edge tonight.

The quiet sigh of the door of the suite sliding open caused Nida to hold his breath, to better hear what was going on as his hand slid under his pillow to grip the knife he always kept sheathed there. Nida stilled himself as he listened for whatever intruder there was, hoping he could tell where the person was in the suite. Yet they were quiet, too quiet for Nida to hazard even the slightest guess about where they were.

He wouldn't have been so concerned if it wasn't for this paranoia that was building up around Garden, and if the only other people who had easy access to Nida's room weren't the kind to sneak around when they came into another person's room. Irvine didn't show up at night, Squall would knock even if he used the general room override code, and Elijah was likely either still with Squall being questioned, or sleeping himself, likely under house arrest until Squall could make heads or tails of everything. With that in mind, Nida knew that chances were that someone who didn't belong here was sneaking in. So, unaware of who was coming, or where they were, Nida carefully gripped the knife, ready to pull it out.

"Nida," Elijah's voice came suddenly from the darkness in the door that led into the rest of the suite. The very sound of his voice cause Nida's grip on the knife to fail.

"Nida, are you awake?"

"Elijah?" Nida asked, shocked.

"Good, you're awake."

Soon Elijah was sitting on the edge of Nida's bed, and Nida sat up to look at the red-haired man in confusion.

"How did you get here?"

"Walked, punched in the code, kept silent just in case you were asleep," Elijah chuckled before leaning in to kiss Nida. Nida pulled back, though, rejecting the kiss and frowning.

"I don't understand. Have you finished talking with Squall? Is everything cleared up?"

Elijah just smiled, his fingers tapping against the hilt of the sword that Nida hadn't noticed Elijah had brought with him until this point. Something about the presence of the sword, Rupio, was unnerving.

"Don't worry about it. I handled everything. Just some confusion. We're all good now." With the words Elijah put his hand on Nida's shoulder, squeezing it, and Nida couldn't help but think about the smoke dream.

"So," Elijah said, leaning in closer, "I hear you're the one we have to thank for the return of the blond bastard. You could have told me."

"Quiet op," Nida sighed, leaning away, restoring what distance there was between him and Elijah. "But you should have guessed. Who better to send to Winhill than the guy from there?"

"True enough. Where'd you find him?"

"My bedroom."

"Should I be jealous?"

Nida shook his head. "Turns out he was staying in Daphne's house because no one was living there."

"Amazing. I'm almost surprised he didn't try to take your head off."

"He did," Nida sighed. "Almost succeeded too."

Elijah raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime. But right now, I believe you promised me something before I left."

"What?" Nida asked, genuinely confused.

"Run away with me."

Nida looked at Elijah, eyes wide and staring, utterly confused. When in the world had he promised to run away with Elijah?

"I can't. This whole situation right now..."

"Can be left to other people. Run away with me, Nida. Let's see the world, free of SeeD and orders and obligations. We could go now, take the Rag..."

"We have responsibilities, 'Lijah, we can't just run away from them."

There was silence for a while before Elijah took his hand off of Nida's shoulder and sighed. Then, without warning, he started to talk again, his voice taking on that quality Nida was used to him using when Elijah told a story.

"I never finished telling you the Legend of Vascaroon, the way I learned it. Well, the King asked the wiseman Vascaroon how he would maintain peace if everyone thought that he was holding the power of Hyne only for himself. How could he make people believe that he wasn't tricking them? Vascaroon said that he must tell the people that they should seek the power of Hyne, but hold to peace, for only in peace could it be used. Then, when they found the god, they would be mighty enough to destroy him and take his magic as their own. But to the King alone he said that even if the god was found, the Zebalgans would not be able to unlock the magic on their own.

"Vascaroon had dreams you see, ones that old him the shape of the future, and they told him that his son would come to the Zebalgans one day to show them how to harness the magic of Hyne. And they would know his son, his heir, because of the dreams he would have, ones that would know the future as Vascaroon's did. What was more, he would be able to use magic, much like the women that Hyne had taken as his daughters, gifting them with magic in return for service in the fight against humans. The heir would come in a time of great struggle, guiding the peoples of the king. With that Vascaroon left, and the Zebalgan king waited. Upon his death he told the prophecy to his son, and that king told it to his son. The story was passed on down the lines, and yet Vascaroon's heir did not come, even though the Zebalgans faithfully sought both Hyne and the son that they might have the power to build a better world. It was a search that continued to this very day."

"They believe this and think they've found this son?" Nida said, realizing that his suspicions had been correct. But why Elijah knew this...

"Exactly," Elijah said with a big smile. "After all of this time the heir has finally come, and the Zebalgans have recognized him. At last, we've found you."

We've found you.

We've found you.

Nida jerked away from Elijah, horrified. There was no misinterpreting those words, the fervent belief behind them. Elijah was counting himself among the Zebalgans, something that no one else here knew for sure if Elijah was out and about. No way in hell would Squall have left Elijah under anything but heavy guard if he had known it for sure. That either meant that Elijah had lied through his teeth all these years and to Squall, or that something had gone wrong, Elijah had been revealed, and he had escaped.

More unnerving than even that was the way that Elijah had said 'you.' There was a passion there, a fanaticism, that made Nida go cold. Whatever had put the idea of Nida being this heir into their minds, Elijah believed it without the faintest bit of doubt, had put himself into the hands of people that the Zebalgans had all but declared war against, and for what?

For Nida. That kind of fanaticism, and all directed at getting Nida so that he could find the power of Hyne. Would someone that driven let anything get between them and their goal for any real amount of time?

Nida's gaze moved to the sword that Elijah had set aside, having leaned it against the nearby nightstand. More than once Nida had thought that the color was the same shade as blood, which he had always been sure meant it would do an amazing job hiding blood on the blade. Sure enough, the blade looked wet. Nida always wanted to hit himself for missing the faint, tell-tale scent in the air.

"Hyne, Elijah... What have you done?"

"It's time to go, my lord," Elijah said, standing and taking Nida's closest hand into his own. "We had better be quick or we will lose our chance. Boyce is waiting..."

"What have you done?" Nida repeated, unable to tear his eyes from the blood on the sword, or his hand from Elijah's as the bloody SeeD hauled Nida to his feet.

"What have you done?"