Author's Notes: Still going by writing buffer chapters. I try to write about two at a time so that I can have time to work on my novel uninterrupted. So far that hasn't worked out much since there was the moving out to Tucson, then the moving inside of Tucson, then the dealing with the other half having his wisdom teeth out and all the nursing that entails. The week that I'm writing this he is between summer work and his next semester of classes at UoA, so I haven't had much time to spend with anything but him. But here I am, taking a night off. I already finished off chapter 12, so it doesn't hurt to take this time I have to write 13 and make my life a bit easier. Here's hoping I can keep this once a month update schedule on the line for the next few months, dedicating a single evening to two chapters, and then the rest of a two month period only writing for my book. Wish me luck. Also, just as a note, HELLO OCTOBER! You're the month before my birthday, you are. Yay!

Hyne's War: Chapter 13

"Well, if it isn't young Nomura," came Andria's warm greeting as she opened her door to Nida and Seifer. Her smile was just as warm and gentle as Nida had always known it to be, the smile of a grandmotherly woman, though she had never had any children of her own. Because of that she had always spoiled the village children, giving them cookies and small gifts whenever they visited.

She didn't look much different from how she once had, her hair still a soft sort of gray, her still wearing a dress with a simple flower pattern, and the air around her still smelling of lilacs. There were more wrinkles here and there, and a touch of anxiety in her eyes, but other than that she looked the same as she ever had. It was all as much a lie now as it had been back then. Part of Nida wanted to scream in her face, to yell and rage and pour out all his anger. Not only had he been lied to, everyone else had. Daphne had. Had friendship ever meant anything to this woman?

Instead Nida just smiled, as calm as he could be when he was bleeding, tired, and with the most terrible pain in his heart. Likely as not Seifer didn't look much better behind him, but that was nothing that Nida could deal with right now. Chances were that Andria would take his lies at face value, believe he was only here because he had been too tired and injured after monster hunting to stumble home and tend to himself. They would hide Lena, of course, but maybe, just maybe, Nida could keep Andria here until there was no escape to be had.

"Oh dear," Andria quickly said, taking in the look of them. Seifer had insisted at some point that Nida stop long enough to try and bind the wound on his leg, which Seifer had only been able to partially heal with the simple Cure spells he'd had on him. Really, they had gone out far too unequipped for this whole venture. "What happened to the two of you? No, never mind that. Come inside this instant. We must see to your injuries."

"Thank you. Someone should remind me not to go after monsters when I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I think I've got a bit of a fever," Nida lied, easily. Far too easily for his own comfort, but Andria just nodded and ushered them in. She did, though, look upon Seifer for a moment with a look of recognition and disgust. Yet the look was gone too fast for Nida or Seifer to even comment upon.

"A fever? My dear boy, has no one taught you in that school of yours that when you are ill you must rest?"

"Yeah, but you know me. I'm a bit on the stubborn side. Seifer, this is Andria Chapel, the wife of our fine mayor. Andria, this is Seifer Almasy, a former classmate of mine. He was living at my cottage until recently. Unfortunately things called me back to Garden when I came to visit, and Seifer chose to accompany me."

"Yes, I think I heard something about a young man staying at your place. Please forgive us for not sending you word," she apologized, guiding Nida to where he knew the rather large bathroom was. Andria had been a nurse long ago, long before marrying the mayor, and had insisted upon a bathroom being built in their home where she could deal with the injuries children were prone to in daily life. Once inside she patted the dark counter top by the sink, and Nida obediently hopped up for her, though it took some assistance from Seifer to accomplish the feat. "I can't believe those Garden people had you return before you could even visit us. What a shame."

"To be honest, I can't fault them," Nida said. Normally he talked about what he had been doing with anyone who asked, provided it wasn't classified. Clamming up now when she likely suspected what was happening would be a problem. So best to phrase things as if he was trying to protect her as an innocent. "If you would keep this between us and the mayor..."

Andria nodded, almost conspiratorially.

"We're at the edge of war, Andria. A group calling themselves the Zebalgans have said they will pretty much bring SeeD down, and attack any villages who seek our protection. Which is bad enough since some towns took protection contracts out after they first announced themselves. Now they want us to put two innocent women on trial and kill them. Worst of all is that they think I'm some kind of... Well I'm not sure what, but they've sworn to get their hands on me, which would be bad for everyone because it would put people at war. My best friend, Elijah, remember how I told you about him? Well, turns out he was one of these Zebalgans, and he killed so many people trying to kidnap me. Kids I was responsible to protect..."

Nida let the memories overwhelm him, tears would do better selling his story than words.

"Oh my," Andria said, wrapping her arms around him in a warm hug. It took everything Nida had not to recoil from her. "Dear, sweet boy. Things will get better, I know it."

Nida shook his head. "The only reason I'm here now is because Squall wanted to find a place for me to stay that was away from the combat. Seifer's here as my guardian. Thing was, I couldn't stand being cooped up when people are getting hurt because some group of people believes I'm special. So I went out to hunt monsters and..." Nida gestured helplessly at his leg.

All of it Andria took in stride before nodding and reaching into a cabinet for her medical supplies. There was nothing, so far as Nida could tell, that implied that she didn't trust his words, but nothing to say that she trusted them either. Still, Nida could hope.

"Dear me. I hope Winhill isn't pulled into this fight. We do have a contract with Balamb, after all."

Nida shook his head, "That isn't a concern. SeeD voluntarily dissolved that contract, and Esthar is protecting the village instead. They are stationed carefully around the village so that they don't interfere with life here. I don't know if the Zebalgans want to face..."

There was a knocking from the front door, and Andria looked up, half confused and half worried.

She must think Elijah is returning. Maybe Joshua or Lena. She'd know we'd gone to find Lena, right? That finding the girl here would be suspicious. Then again, maybe it's Squall...

"I wonder who that could be," Andria said, worry even reaching her voice.

"Allow me," Seifer offered. "You tend to Nida. I remember my way back to the door."

"No, no. That is sweet dearie, but to be honest, if you answer the door in your current state you might set up something of a bit of noise here. People would think some ruffian was robbing us."

Seifer shook his head, all but scoffing at the idea, but let Andria slip out of the room. Then, once she was gone, he quickly moved beside Nida, riffling through the medical kit.

"What are you doing?" Nida found himself hissing.

"If that is someone who'd be happy to see me dead, I'd rather have you in fighting condition alongside me."

With that Seifer tore a roll of gauze from its packaging and unscrewed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide with one hand. The latter was poured liberally on Nida's cut, almost making him scream in pain and protest, and the former quickly wrapped around the bubbling cut. Seifer didn't even wait to apply the same treatment to a few other, small injuries, and to apply another does of light cure to the worse bruises from the GF's attack. Then, without waiting for Nida's thanks, the gunblader started to treat his own wounds in the same way.

It had been rough and Seifer had far from a good bedside manner, but as Nida inspected the bandaging around his leg he could not at all deny the fact that it was good work. Enough that Kadowaki herself would probably be proud. Likely the effectiveness of it was something Seifer had picked up in one of the classes the Garden offered that Nida hadn't taken, but the speed probably came from all that time on the run after the war. If you were hurt and needed tending, better to do it fast before the mob caught up, right?

"There," Seifer said after anchoring a final bandage around his arm with some medical tape. "Ready to go. Come on, Squall should be here any..."

There was a small shout from the direction of the door, Andria shocked by her company, and Nida hopped down from the counter and grabbed his halberd from where he had left it leaning beside the door. Seifer soon followed him into the hall, and when they glanced in the direction of the door they were met by a sight both frightening and comforting.

"You," Squall growled, turning his attention away from the pair of SeeDs who were restraining Andria, not even bothering to order the others with him to search the rooms to find Lena and Joshua. "You two are..."

"Joshua is dead," Nida cut in, not wanting for this fight to happen now, in front of Andria. "We left his body just outside of town, near the beach. He'll be under an orange tarp from the flier, anchored with the largest rocks we could find. We also rigged up a small magical barrier with some of my spare spell stones, which should hopefully keep the monsters from his corpse."

Nida could see the way Andria's eyes widened in horror at that announcement, but it wasn't a look he had to face long before he saw her pulled out of the house by the two SeeDs Squall had left responsible for her.

Squall's glare failed for a moment, but only a moment, before he strode purposefully towards Nida and Seifer. The anger there, it was more than justified, but Nida hated to see it directed at himself. The SeeD Commander looked about ready to cut Nida down himself, damn the Zebalgans, propriety, and everyone's feelings. It was what Nida deserved, but he still felt as resolved about what he had done as he had before he set out.

Oddly enough it was Seifer's actions that stopped Squall in his tracks. The blond easily pushed past Nida, Hyperion not quite in hand, and stood there, a barrier between Squall and Nida.

Great,two of the most deadly men in the world, quite possibly about to come to blows, and all over me.

"What are you doing?"

"You told me that I was to protect him, while making it look like I was protecting others. And right now, I'm following that order as best I can, sir."

"I didn't mean against me," Squall pointed out, almost calm and ice once more.

"You never said not against you, either," Seifer pointed out, calm as well.

"I should have your rank, I should have your head," Squall said, closing the distance and all but hissing the words.

"You've already got a head to appease you, a gift from Nomura."

Squall paused, frowning. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Joshua, the guy Nida mentioned... You'll find him headless by Nida's hand. That one, Zebalgan I assure you, was trying to kill Nida. Apparently there is dissent in the ranks over Nida. Zale even tried to defend our boy from the psycho. But more about that later."

"And Zale?"

"He got away," Nida jumped in, not ready to hear Seifer's explanation for any of it. "I was hurt badly by Joshua, and Seifer tried to help me. Elijah took the chance to disappear."

For a moment Squall seemed to contemplate this, before nodding at last and crossing his arms. At least, Nida was thankful, the fighting tension in the man was gone, and even Seifer was relaxing into a less guarded stance.

"I expect a full briefing. For now, though, you two are to help me in any way you can disarming the tension that will arise in Winhill after this."

"I'll do my best, sir," Nida said with a sigh, and guided by Seifer, left the mayor's house. The best thing he could do for right now was to find Ariel and Gail. Ariel would believe what Nida told her, as would the others their age, and Gail was considered reliable in the village. With them on his side this would not only go faster, but have a lot better of a chance of convincing a lot of people really fast. All Nida would have to offer in exchange was the truth about his relationship with Elijah. Hyne knew Ariel would enjoy that.

The problem now, though, would be earning back the trust he'd probably lost from Squall.

Nida all but collapsed onto the bed Kadowaki had prepared for him, the pain in his leg having gotten so bad that putting the slightest amount of weight on it made his whole leg tremble. Even the Curagas had barely taken an edge off of the pain, even though it had sealed the wound. In the end he'd been offered an antidote, remedy and even an Esuna spell, but none had helped. Kadowaki, when contacted about it, had suggested that the knife that cut Nida had been poisoned. For the remainder of the flight on Ragnarok, Nida had been left in an empty brig cell next to the one shared by Andria and Lena, and put under a Sleep spell, to at least relieve him from the pain. Seifer had, though, woken Nida and helped him to walk back here all but on his own feet.

"Poisons designed to avoid antidotes and Esunas are hardly ever pleasant. Luckily there are not many of them, so an analysis should yield an answer for us quickly enough. Garden is also equipped to handle all sorts of exotic poisons..." Kadowaki was saying as she directed Seifer to move Nida's leg so it was stretched fully out on the bed. "If we're lucky you don't have one of the ones which move to the heart after a time. Those tend to take three hours to kill, and we'd be cutting it rather close. But, from what I hear about the man who did this, a quick death isn't what he wanted you to have. We're lucky with that. Now, Seifer, hold him still..."

Nida watched, trying to be detached, as Kadowaki came at him with a pair of scissors. Part of him wanted to moan, not from pain but sorrow, as the doctor quickly and efficiently cut down the middle of Nida's uniform pants all the way up to his thigh.

"Oh, Nida, would you look at this for me," the doctor said, gesturing to the side, and Nida couldn't help but follow the motion of her hand. Yet no sooner had he looked than he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his leg, just below his knee.

"Fuck!" Nida shouted, turning his attention back and being met with the sight of blood welling up from his leg. Apparently she had taken the moment of distraction to reopen the wound.

"We need to work whatever we can of the poison out of your system," Kadowaki said, moving to pull on a new pair of gloves and to massage Nida's leg. The actions both sent a fire up through his leg, and soothed him. It was an odd combination, and as Nida watched she encouraged the blood to flow from his leg rather freely.

"Could I possibly be unconscious for this?" he asked, unable to hide the nervousness in his voice.

"No. I need you awake. The earlier Sleep spell could have been bad for you, and one of the poisons on the list reacts poorly to pain killers. You're going to have to grit your teeth and bear it."

"Just shoot me," Nida grumbled, turning his head away from what was going on.

After a moment Kadowaki pulled away, and Nida was left only with the burning pain. For a second he could not help but close his eyes. It didn't matter what the doctor said, it hurt too much to stay here like this.

He stood before a tired and injured looking Elijah. There was blood pouring freely from a cut across the other man's chest, and more from his forehead, though Nida couldn't tell why. Elijah looked tired, and his grip on Rupio was weak at best. Nida felt no better than Elijah looked, barely able to hold his own weapon, and the ache in his leg—a phantom pain from where Joshua had cut him with the poisoned blade—was acting up. Yet there was no real option. Tired as they both were, that didn't change the fact that it had to end now. One of them had to die.

"No!" Nida shouted, sitting up even as he awoke. Another smoke dream, denying him even a moment of peace from the pain, and all but promising that it would never go away. Hyne help him, this was all just too much.

And Nida had barely even registered what had happened before Seifer was there, grabbing his shoulders and pushing Nida back down into the pillow. There was concern in his face, pity even, but that didn't matter.

"What happened?" Kadowaki demanded, rushing back to Nida's bedside.

"I think he fell asleep for a moment," Seifer suggested.

"Dream," Nida gasped out. "Fighting with Elijah. Smoke dream. No clue when, but the pain, it was still there."

"Could be that the dream was affected by your pain," Kadowaki offered. "But stay awake either way. I need to run the analysis. I promise you, Nida, I'm going as fast as I can."

"Please, just stop the pain."

Kadowaki frowned, then turned away, likely returning to her computer where she as running her analysis.

"Seifer," Nida growled, gripping the sheet tightly under his hand. "Promise me that if I die here, you slit Boyce's throat for me personally."

The blond frowned for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

"Good. Now..." Nida thought for a while before smiling. "I'm entitled to a possible last meal, right?"

Seifer looked away for a minute, as if to confirm something. Then he turned his attention back to Nida and nodded. "Anything."

"Steak, potatoes, and cookies."

That got the blond laughing. "Sure man. I'll have the Doc write a note for it and send some bozo to fetch it for you."

"Thanks."

"Face it, Nomura. No way I'm going to let you die now. I've been enjoying the fact that the cadets don't look at me funny for being traitor. If you kick it, they'll have no one else to glare at but me."

"Thanks. So supportive," Nida said, shaking his head and laughing as well.

The meal itself was good, and made better when Kadowaki delivered the good news. Not only had the poison been one they knew, but one that was easy enough to cure. It had been meant to kill Nida slowly and painfully over a full day, but the poisoner had underestimated the ability of Balamb Garden to deal with these things. Maybe Galbadia wasn't as good with poisoning, or had less resources. Either way Nida didn't care. He had steak, pain killers, and more cookies than he could reasonably eat. Plus Kadowaki had promised Squall that if he so much as tried to hurt Nida for his insubordination, she was going to see to it that the SeeD Commander himself had to spend time in the bed next to Nida's.

"How is my patient doing?" Kadowaki said, coming to Nida's side. It had been hours since the antidote had been administered, and yet Nida was still being given pretty good privacy.

"Tired," Nida admitted, knowing that Kadowaki at least might understand what he meant.

"And you don't want to dream," she responded knowingly.

Nida had taken what chance he could to tell Kadowaki everything he could remember about his dreams. She had insisted she needed to know for the analysis of the data from the last dreaming. So Nida had shared it all, down to the details of the last dream. And through it all, picking up memories of other dreams he had long since had and brushed off, dreams during the Sorceress War that he'd never really realized came true, Nida had grown to fear them. Never did they show him comfort, peace, or anything anywhere near pleasant. Dreaming, especially after his last vision, was something he wanted to avoid if it wasn't one of the crazy, wildly strange dreams that every one else had. The only things he was sure of was that there would be more, and that there was something very different between the dreams that were clear, and the ones that were smoke.

"It's too much. I hate this. I hate all of this. It's a burden I never asked to bear."

"None of us seek difficult lives," Kadowaki pointed out, stealing a cookie from his plate. "Well, except for Squall and Seifer I think. Those two always seem to be seeking confrontation. If they had been born in a time of peace, they would have made a war out of it."

Nida was less sure of that, but the sentiment was understandable.

"Is war just something humanity seeks?"

Kadowaki seemed to think on this for a moment before shaking her head. "There is some suggestion from archeology and anthropology that humans only tend towards war in specific situations. When there is conflict over territory there is war, though this is mostly due to the fact that with territory comes resources such as food and building materials, which is a necessity to life. Another reason comes from differences in ideology, these usually in tandem with need for resources. Yet in our history it seems that with free time and leisure comes and increase in war. They are still unsure as to why this correlation happens, and some posit that it is due to the Sorceresses..."

"What do you think?"

This brought a frown to the woman, and a few moments of silence.

"As a doctor I have the chance to see people come in injured due to many things. Sometimes it was sparring when bored. Sometimes it was conflict over desirable members of the opposite sex. But what strikes me as the biggest cause of injury and conflict within Garden in pride. We are proud, and desire to prove to others that there is good reason for us to be proud. That, I fear, is the reason for modern war. Power, yes. Territory, yes. Ideology, yes. But pride. More than anything, pride."

Nida considered this in silence for a moment, but his chance to think was cut off by the sound of beeping from Kadowaki's computer. Quickly the doctor got up and shuffled over to her desk, something Nida could just barely see now that they had propped up the bed for him.

"Oh my," Kadowaki said after a moment. "Oh my. This..."

"What is it, Doc?"

"I just received a message from Doctor Veringas."

"Doctor Veringas?" There was always a chance that Kadowaki had shared the data from the study with someone other than Odine. Nida didn't like it, though. Odine they knew, at least, wasn't a Zebalgan. The man believed too much in himself to believe in any other person, god, or belief system.

"Of course, excuse me. You've never heard of him. Doctor Veringas is an Esthari who specializes in studies on Guardian Forces. It was he, with Odine, that discovered junctioning, though he never attached his name to the research. None of the other scholars were fooled, though. And Odine was more than happy to take the credit. Veringas, though, is a true expert in GFs, and not just in their powers and how they affect us, but in all mythos associated with them. It is he that first suggested that junctioning could lead to memory issues, and his current research is along those lines."

"Why is he sending a message to you?" Nida couldn't help but ask.

"I sent him a message about all the things I was told by SeeDs about Elijah's GF. I was hoping he could provide some insight. He's very excited to hear about new GFs. None have been discovered since Eden and Gilgamesh, and he only ever got to hear about Griever, never study. He's hoping to learn more about the Guardians you encountered."

"We can't tell him anything other than what they looked like," Nida admitted.

"That may be enough for him to identify them. There is actually a list of lost Guardians. If either of those two are on it then it is possible the Zebalgans have them, and you'll at least have a warning on what you may be up against."

Nida considered this for a second, then nodded. While he still hadn't given his report to Squall, he was sure Seifer had done at least that part, leaving Nida free to offer the information to this Doctor Veringas. Maybe it would truly be helpful.

"There was a new one today. I think I heard Joshua whisper the name of it. Something like..." Nida struggled with the memory, thinking of the way Joshua's lips had moved, the word they had formed before he had all but melted away before the onslaught of the Guardian.

At last he let the word flow from his lips, or as close to the name of the Guardian as he could construct.

"Mateas."