Author's Notes: Geez, time seems to fly. I've been quite busy with my new classes, which are amazingly fun. My time has been taken up finishing up a midterm, a project, and short paper, so I am left sadly providing you this chapter later than expected. But it is here at last, another chapter adding to the well over 100k word and growing story. What do you think of that? This chapter is dedicated to the first person to read it. You know who you are.

Hyne's War: Chapter 18

"There. It's not much, and I will expect you to check in later but it will hold you together for now. Provided, that is, you don't strain your arm. And if you were as wise as you're often credited as being, you won't tear open the wound and drag me back here when I have other patients sorely in need of my attention," Kadowaki said as she gathered up the medical kit she had brought with her to Squall's quarters. "You are to either have someone change the bandage in six hours, or come to me to do it. Other than that, Squall, I would very much recommend that you become better at dodging crossbow bolts. If you had been any less lucky with where you were hit..."

Kadowaki trailed off, more than willing to let the few assembled supply their own theories as to what would have happened if Squall really hadn't had luck on his side this time. It was clear enough to Nida from the looks on Seifer and Squall's faces that they had already leapt to all the worst case scenarios, probably even a few that neither Nida or Kadowaki had come up with on their own. Chances were that Kadowaki had read the same thing in the silence of the gunbladers, and just sighed as she stood. This too Nida could understand: the doctor had far more important things to worry about than a young SeeD who should have been able to look after himself. Not, of course, that she even held out the most ridiculous dreams that the youths she was charged with caring for would ever manage to avoid injury, but in the last hour she'd acquired nearly forty new patients to tend to, and she was intent on returning to them whether they were Garden students or Galbadians still reeling from the shock of what had come to pass.

"Well, I would normally prescribe sleep as well, but I somehow doubt that you would listen now, as you never have before. So I suppose this is the best I can do... Seifer, you are to make sure that the Commander gets no less than five hours of sleep tonight."

"Whatever," Squall mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. It wasn't the best move, as even as he did so, Nida could see the grimace of pain flash across Squall's face.

"I give you my word," Seifer said, half chuckling at the look on Squall's face. "In fact, it will be my pleasure to make sure of it."

"I'm sure you will. Just don't be too rough with him," Kadowaki said with another sigh. Finally she just shook her head and left without another word, leaving the trio of SeeDs in silence until the door of Squall's quarters slid shut with a quiet hiss.

At last, though, Seifer broke the silence by driving his fist into the nearest wall, causing Nida to jump and leaving a rather impressive depression in the drywall. It wasn't quite as bad as the damage as Zell would have caused, but it was enough to earn Seifer a rather dirty look from Squall.

"Good thing Kadowaki brought us here," Nida mused, "otherwise you'd have hell to pay for damaging one of her walls."

"He'll be paying for the repairs out of his first pay," Squall pointed out, pushing himself off of the bed. "In the mean time, get me a shirt."

It was clearly a command directed at Seifer, so Nida quickly moved so that he wasn't leaning against Squall's dresser. Seifer took a moment to roll his eyes and throw Squall a mocking salute before moving to pull open a few drawers until he was at last presented with the sight of a collection of plain white shirts. Soon enough Seifer had thrown one right at Squall's head, only to have that minor protest easily countered by Squall catching it as if it had been expected—and maybe it had. In a matter of moments Squall had managed to carefully pull the shirt on over his bandaged torso, though he chose to forgo the stretching that would have been required to get either his uniform or leather coat on as well.

"I don't like this," Seifer growled, slamming the dresser drawer closed as he turned fully to look at Squall.

"Whether you approve of my taste in clothing or not is hardly my concern," Squall countered.

"That isn't what I meant, and you know it," Seifer snapped, turning to lean against the dresser as Nida had been only minutes before.

"Lieutenant General Macken," Squall said, shaking his head. Yet it wasn't in denial, that much was obvious to Nida. No, the gesture struck him as more of Squall admitting that he didn't quite know what to think of what had happened. "Nida, how...?"

"Other than the odd behavior within the Galbadian troops themselves?" Nida asked, though it was a rather rhetorical question, and he knew Squall would have noticed that too and yet had not made the connection Nida had.

"One of the younger Galbadians managed to cut the back of my hand. Nothing major, hardly even enough to impair fighting. His partner, though, grew furious with him, and raised his gun not at me, but at the other soldier. He muttered something I couldn't hear, but I could read it on his lips..."

"Heir," Seifer supplied, disgust plain in his voice, as if the very taste of the word made him want to spit, in hopes that he could rid himself of it.

"At that point I deflected the shot aimed for the first soldier, and, well, you heard what I shouted."

Squall nodded in agreement, "It was effective."

"I couldn't be sure that all of those on our side would understand, but I figured that it might get a reaction from the Zebalgans in the group, and that the senior members of SeeD would make the connection between the contradiction of my voice declaring my own death or injury in such a manner."

"I wasn't positive until Selphie's shout," Squall admitted, frowning to himself. "She's too calm on the battlefield to act in such a way."

"Really? I'd think that with the pair of lungs she's got on her, you'd use her as a glorified herald in battle or something," Seifer said.

Squall just ignored the comment, still frowning though Nida was sure that it was because Squall was thinking. He wasn't the only one either, not with all there was to leave someone questioning. There were plenty to ask: who was the spy in Garden; could they trust Caraway; what was the next move for the the Zebalgans; for Garden; and why in the world had Squall, upon being told he'd be tended to in his own room by Kadowaki, had sent the others away. A few, like Quistis and Selphie, had been sent to deal with clean up and contacting Caraway, but the others Squall had merely dismissed by ordering Seifer and Nida to come with him to his rooms. Which left Nida wondering what was coming next.

"She has been used that way before," Nida pointed out, taking up the conversation he had almost abandoned in his train of thought. "During the SeeD examination."

"Yeah, sent her on as a messenger girl," Seifer agreed, shaking his head. "Too much energy on that girl."

"Probably part of the reason she was sent after your exam group. You were the furthest away, and that before you went running off."

Seifer had no response to that, something which honestly mystified Nida. He'd expected some scathing remark, or at least some self-satisfied comment about how he'd at least been willing to act. Silence wasn't Seifer's thing after all, so for Nida to be met with it, well, it was about as comforting as Squall giving a speech.

"So what do we do now, Commander?" Seifer asked instead, returning his attention to Squall. "Can't leave this unanswered. This is the third time they've put innocents in the line of fire."

There was no doubt that Squall agreed, not with the way he was nodding.

"I don't think they see it that way," Nida said, and almost instantly he regretted it. The looks that he got from Squall and Seifer—confusion and incredulity—were nearly enough to make Nida think twice about his words. Yet he had to press on, it was more than clear that these two couldn't quite understand. Just like Quistis, they had spent the better part of their lives in Garden, they had little memory outside of it.

"Edea and Rinoa represent the core of what they hate and they fear, and Ellone is as unknown to them as she is to us. Winhill is full of people who not only don't believe, but they willingly put their fate into the hands of the Garden barbarians, people who harbor Sorceresses and their Knights. And Garden... I don't think they see any of the people here as innocent, not quite. Joshua and Elijah both grew up in Gardens, they might understand that not all the children here are warriors, that we don't force this onto them if they can't handle it. The others... who knows."

Seifer looked about to protest, but he was silenced by a small gesture from Squall.

"That doesn't chance what they've done," Squall said, "or what they intend to do. Who is to say they won't be willing to do the same to Timber, or Dollet, or any other group of people they don't like? If Megill is willing, able to send a branch of the Galbadian military at us, then who is to say he won't send it for people who can't fight back?"

"Then what do you propose?"

"We strike back."

"You're going to get us all attacked by these psychotic fools!" Duke Freizan of Dollet bellowed, slamming his fists upon his desk to emphasize the protest. "Dollet can no more protect itself now than it could when Galbadia last invaded us, so how are we to protect ourselves from their army when you run off on your fools errand!"

"What happened here was not an act of the Galbadian military, of that I can assure you," President Caraway countered, his voice utterly level and calm for all the accusations that Freizan had been flinging at Galbadia for the last several minutes. Nida had to give Caraway credit for the sheer composure he was maintaining, all things considered.

With a sigh Nida leaned back in his chair, making sure that he didn't openly acknowledge the fact that every time he so much as breathed he was given suspicious looks. The only relief he had was that none of those looks came from within the conference room anymore. Something had changed since Winhill, since the attack on Garden, leaving Nida without enemies among the senior SeeDs. Nor had the assembled trio of women who had been brought to Balamb Garden by the White SeeDs seemed to hold the attack upon them against Nida. Granted Rinoa's entire attention upon her arrival had been on trying to win Squall's affection (much to his annoyance and Seifer's amusement), but Edea had embraced him with as much fondness as she had given any of her 'children,' and Ellone had placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder and assured him that everything would be alright.

No, all the hesitation came from those men and women who had been brought into the discussion by video conferencing, their faces all prominently displayed on the second of two the two large screens that had been installed in the conference room. In this case it was the screen at the foot of the long table, not only because it was the one set up for video conferencing, but because its placement meant that someone looking through the window of the conference room door wouldn't be able to see what was going on. The downside was that Squall had insisted that Nida and Seifer take up the places to his immediate left, putting Nida that much closer to the center of attention and making it impossible for him to try to hide his presence from those foreign powers that were part of this discussion. Already Freizan and the Headmaster of Trabia Garden had expressed concern at Nida's involvement in the conversation. Not even Squall's word had seemed to suffice for them, resulting in Laguna and Edea speaking on Nida's behalf, and even Caraway had spoken. It had been his words, though, which had carried the most weight. Who, after all, was going to speak up against a man who might share information with the enemy when it had already been proven that one of the most powerful militaries in the world could hardly assure anyone of absolute secrecy?

And so Nida sat still, trying not to show how bored he was with all of the posturing of the political and military leaders in on the conference. Seifer was getting away with it, in part because who was really willing to draw the attention of such an infamous man, and in part because Seifer was obviously the sort of man who wouldn't care what was said of or to him. Everyone else—save Rinoa—had their attention riveted on the screen, on the conversation taking place, leaving Nida to feign attentiveness as everyone pointed fingers at everyone else. Well, not quite everyone else. Mostly people blamed the subordinates of the other leaders, fearing that one of them was less trustworthy than had been assumed. No one seemed to think that the problems could be with their own men.

"Our investigation into the matter tells us that President Caraway is correct," Squall said, his voice utterly level and business-like. "The message that was sent to Garden was, upon closer inspection, revealed to have been faked. Xu, please explain."

At Squall's words, Xu quickly turned her attention to the stack of papers before her, one which Nida was sure she had long since memorized all the details of. Xu wasn't the sort of person, after all, to run the risk of not knowing some obscure detail that may be needed at a moment's notice. Still, she looked through the papers as if she needed to refresh herself on some detail before looking up at the faces looking out at her from the screen.

"I analyzed the video call we apparently received from President Deling. Superficially it appeared to be everything that we first believed, a message from Caraway covering his deployment of a portion of the military, at his command, to help Garden in its attempts to defend people against the growing Zebalgan threat. Closer analysis of the transmission reveled that it was not, in fact, composed of a single message. Rather it was created from pieces of other transmissions, not only to Garden, but to other nations, and people within his own country. The videos were skillfully cut together, making it hard to notice the flaws and evidence of this even when slowed down and analyzed by our best technology. Whoever did this work... they were more than just skillful. Their skill was far better than I have ever encountered."

"Just because..." Freizan started to speak, only to be cut off by a throat being cleared. That might not have even stopped him, had it not been for just who it was that had made the noise.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Laguna said, earning a barely suppressed snicker from Seifer, and an eye-roll from Squall, but if Xu says that she has not encountered someone with that kind of skill, I believe her. I would request, though, that the video transmission be shared with our top computer specialists..."

"And who is to say that yours are even trustworthy?" Caraway asked, unable to resist the inherent distrust the Galbadians seemed to hold even now for Esthari. "There is no way to be sure that your people are not either Zebalgan, or under their command."

"Let us not forget that Garden received that transmission from your country," Xu said, flipping through her pages once more. "That we were able to confirm. Which means that there is someone within your own nation who is under the Zebalgan command."

Squall nodded in agreement, raising a hand to silence the protests that met Xu's words. "Chances are that all of us, at one time or another, have had a member of the Zebalgans among our number. Balamb Garden had Zale, Galbadia this Joshua, and Trabia Megill himself. We even found evidence of their number in Winhill and among the White SeeD. If I were in their position, I would do the same. The best way to gather information about the enemy is among them."

Some of the people were looking at Squall in shock, their mouths gaping open at Squall's words. But others, like Caraway and Kiros—who was standing behind Laguna with his face just barely visible on the screen—were nodding in agreement. Nida was unsurprised by that, just as the others at the Garden's conference table—save Rinoa who was staring at Squall and clearly not paying much attention—seemed unshocked by Squall's words. In fact, it was only those leaders who had no military background that seemed to be dazed by Squall's words.

"The truth of the matter is, that these people have us on the ropes," Seifer cut in, finally sitting forward in his chair and turning his attention towards the screen. "They're good enough to install sleeper agents in not one, but four different military and para-military groups, agents obedient enough to, after developing live and relationships with people around them, sometimes people they have known since their childhood, still get up and walk away without looking back. Chances are that the ones that were given those positions were by far the best of their people, and that not all of them can pull off that kind of devotion. The problem is that those ones are the ones we have to watch out for, the ones we have to deal with."

"And so you would suggest we attack these people? If they are as strong as you say they are, won't this make things worse?" a new voice added itself to the conversation, that of the woman who was head of the small council which had taken over the governing of Timber at Caraway's behest. "You ask us to leave our people undefended, to attack an enemy whose retaliation will undoubtedly be swift and more damaging to us than to them? And you ask us to do it when we still have no idea where these people have gone to?"

"That is not completely true," Edea said, drawing attention to herself. Until now many of the people on the screen had seemed to pointedly be ignoring Edea. It was as understandable as people watching Nida suspiciously, for many of them—their people really—had been harmed by the woman that Edea Kramer had been. She, unlike Nida, was taking it all with a quiet grace. Then again, she had been living with the knowledge of who and what she was for years, whereas Nida had only become a 'threat' to the world in the last few weeks. There was years of experience, of practice, behind the way she sat there, seeming both apart from the whole situation, and yet utterly attentive.

"Do you have any ideas, Edea?" Laguna prompted, seeming to understand that the way she had trailed off had been meant to draw interest and attention.

"There are a few signs which I believe point to where they might base themselves," she said, bowing her head slightly to acknowledge Laguna. "I would draw your attention to the attack upon Sorceress Rinoa and myself, not to mention Ellone. When we were attacked, it was a surprise in part due to the fact that the attack did not come from the sea. Some of you might know that one of the best approaches to the Orphanage are sea based. The area by the lighthouse is predominately cliffs, and the Orphanage itself is built on the cliffs, but we have beach access. I could hold the path to the beach myself, but it would tire me quickly. A handful of White SeeD might hold it indefinitely. Yet the weak point for us is the front of the Orphanage. We face expansive beaches on either side of the peninsula, with only a minor change in elevation on the road up to the building. We could be overwhelmed from that direction and distracted to the point where we would not think to protect ourselves from the rear. That being said, we can see when there are boats in the area. And I can tell you that the Zebalgans did not use boats to reach our shores, or to attack our flank."

This information seemed to be considered for a moment, various people either scowling as they tried to figure out the importance, or nodding in agreement with Edea's words. At last, though, Kiros spoke up, more than willing to explain things for the less militarily minded.

"This means the Zebalgans had to use an overland route to attack you. They either have a base or a staging ground in Centra."

Quistis nodded in agreement, cleared her throat. "We recently acquired some information from Dr. Munroe, a professor of the University of Deling City, and an expert upon ancient Zebalgan culture. He shared some research with us, by himself and others in his focus, that suggests that Centra would be the center of Zebalgan activity. Apparently the Centran Empire we all learn about in school, which split to create the Dollet Empire, and the Esthari nation, was in fact an empire controlled and peopled by the Zebalgan people. A third group remained upon the continent after the sundering, maintaining their culture and in an attempt to reclaim their old power, uncovered the Crystal Pillar and caused the Lunar Cry of 80 years ago."

Again there were protests, both loud and restrained, upon all save the SeeDs at the table, who had already learned all of this in a previous briefing. No, again there was someone that seemed to have expected this news. Well, no, not quite expected, just not surprised. Laguna was frowning to himself, almost looking as if he was seriously considering something. With a crook of his finger, Kiros bent down to listen to some whispered words, then nodded and strode off screen.

"I can't quite be sure," Laguna said, cutting into the mumbling, "but I think there might be something useful about that in the library here at the Presidential Residence."

"Palace," Squall mumbled under his breath, so quietly that Nida could barely hear it. No one who had spent time around the SeeD Commander had any doubt that he considered his father more a king than a president.

"I seem to remember a few books on the land where the Esthari people came from, and why they broke away from their people, and another more recent one on the people of the Centran continent before the Lunar Cry. We might be able to find something in them that will be useful."

"So we're to poke around randomly in a vast, deserted land, and hope that we manage to find a vast army of people who want to conquer us, and all the while we pray to Hyne that they don't know we're coming?" Duke Freizan asked.

"In a way," Caraway said even as Laguna offered, "Yes."

"No," Squall countered, shaking his head. "I have been working with the Headmasters of the three Gardens since I learned about what Quistis said. We quietly arranged for surveillance of the continent, and have cut down the number of possible locations where any force could be hiding. We would ask for Esthar's help in further searching. Our fly-overs cannot do much with the canyon lands."

"And other places," Xu added. When Nida glanced at her he could see her frowning slightly. "From what I understand the canyons there are washes, which means that any real rain completely flood them. I don't think that these people would use those places to hide themselves."

Something in Nida wanted to protest, but he couldn't quite explain why. There were no dreams, no true knowledge of the Centran continent to base such a protest on, only a gut feeling that said that it was the best place to look. Whether that feeling came from some unexplored or unknown that came to the heir, or just his growing unease around Xu, he couldn't know. Yet there was something in him that cried out at the idea of the canyons. Something in him made him think of high, cool walls of red stone, offering protection from both the elements and prying eyes.

"And what do we do when you find them?" Caraway asked, bringing silence once more to the assembled people. "Already Balamb Garden has suggested an all out attack, but may I point out to you that a good deal of the people missing according to our records are young, old, infirm, or other non-combatants. There is just as much chance that you will find a mass of relative innocents, and attack them without provocation. At that point are we any better than they are?"

Silence, and this time a more lasting one. It was a question that no one knew how to answer from the looks on their faces, and even Nida couldn't think of a response. In fact, the only thing that came to mind were the memories of that late night, his hand gripped tightly in Elijah's. The weakness, the terror, the disbelief on the faces of SeeD and cadet alike as Elijah's Rupio cut them down. They had been defenseless, more or less, with no weapons at hand. Many of them had been young enough to have been spared the horrors of the recent war, had never faced any true risk to their lives. Innocent in every meaningful way, and cut down by a single man with bloody purpose. Would they be the same thing if unleashed upon the Zebalgans? Could they ever be sure that they were facing trained fighters and not normal men with no greater motivation than protecting their families? Yes, the Zebalgans had struck at them first, but could they justify what Squall was asking? How many lives would be lost? How many saved?

"We negotiate," Squall said at last, his words shocking Nida—and from the sudden movement around him, many others—from their respective reveres. "Send in someone who can act as our voice, to try and make peace with them."

"Do you really think that's possible?" Seifer asked after another moment of silence, putting out the question that no one else was willing to voice.

"No," Squall admitted. "I don't. But there is a chance we can learn what forces, if any, are at the location we find and we would have a chance to learn something about our enemies and the council that leads them. But whoever is sent in is at risk. The Zebalgans might know the person is coming, might kill them to keep them from letting any information out..."

"It's a worthwhile risk, though," Caraway said, though he didn't even try to conceal the distaste in his voice. "One life for thousands..."

"An exchange we can't refuse," Laguna agreed.

"We have to try," the head of the Timber Council grudgingly agreed.

"But can we trust someone for this?" Duke Freizan asked.

"It would have to be a SeeD," Caraway said, and he sounded quite bitter to have to acknowledge that. "Galbadia doesn't have the kind of training needed for one of our operatives to survive in such a situation, much less one qualified to negotiate as well."

"Nor does Esthar," Laguna admitted.

"And while I cannot be sure that I speak for the others, I know that save for the people that the Garden supply us with, Trabia has no one who could do this," the old mayor of Trabia said, and his words were followed by quick agreement from the leaders of Timber and Dollet.

"It can't be Zell," Xu quickly offered. "I doubt they'll look kindly on someone who killed one of their own with his bear hands."

Quistis nodded in agreement before adding her own opinion, "We can't send Xu either. She's the only one even remotely capable of dealing with finding the source of the Zebalgan transmissions, and make sure we don't fall for that last trick again."

"Can't send cowboy either," Seifer observed. "He can't handle himself without that gun of his."

Nida could see that Irvine was about to protest that when Squall raised his hands to silence the chatter. "Nor can we send Selphie because we need her tactical skill, Quistis because her style isn't suited to multiple combatants, and the list could continue. The problem is that the person I would trust most to get out in a fight would be Seifer..."

That got a few roars of anger—and a smirk from Seifer—which Squall cut off with a gesture. "But the Zebalgans have already demanded his head. They won't deal with him, and I won't waste a resource. He'd also be a poor negotiator."

The last comment wiped the smirk off of Seifer's face, leaving him scowling.

"We only have one option..." Squall said after a moment, and he wasn't given a chance to finish.

"Absolutely not!" Laguna snapped, slamming his fist on his desk and making the image of him on the screen shake. "We can't risk..."

"I agree," Caraway put in, cutting off the obvious fatherly rant that Laguna was clearly about to launch into. "If this comes to war, the SeeD need a strong, experienced commander. No offense meant to your people, but none of them have the leadership experience that you do, Leonhart."

"If the Lion of Balamb were to fall..." Duke Freizan mumbled, just barely audible behind the other protests.

"You can't do that Squall!" Rinoa cried, and immediately she seemed to burst into tears. "I won't let you..."

Edea placed a hand on Rinoa's shoulder, as if to silence her, but it did nothing to stop the tears of the younger sorceress.

"I have to agree," Edea said after a moment. "Beyond just the reasons offered by the others, there is the concern about Rinoa. A sorceress needs to have their knight to act as their anchor. If you were to fail, the despair could... Well, it is a risk we must not entertain."

The protests continued, flying thick and fast, stumbling over each other until Nida could barely keep up with them. All the while Squall sat by, impassive, his mind already made up. Yet, the longer Nida listened, the more he looked at Squall, the more it seemed that his vision filled with fog and smoke. As he watched Squall seemed to grow weak before him, gasping for air, and pressing his hand against his side. Blood stained the hand, his shirt, seemed to be everywhere and spreading with each passing moment.

Then the smoke and fog obscured him, completely hiding Squall from his sight, and leaving Nida alone and staring at his own hands. Hands covered in blood. Hands suddenly full as they clutched a body to his chest. An ache in his chest, tears burning in his eyes, pain screaming in his shoulder. The pool of blood spreading, leaving a deep darkness that even the fog could not hide, even as it hid the face of the person he held.

"No," Nida whispered to himself. This wasn't the time to have fallen asleep, to get caught up in visions of what might be. "No," he repeated, this time the words not coming because he wanted them to, but because they had to when he looked down at the person in his arms. Over and over he chanted the word, refusing the sight, refusing the vision, refusing the choice it seemed to offer him.

"No!" he said again, with force this time. Sure enough it seemed to awaken him, or at least dispel whatever had passed over him. The smoke and fog was gone, leaving him seated at the table with all eyes turned towards him in shock. Apparently this time the word had been heard by others.

"Nida..." Edea said, reaching across the table for his hand, but he quickly pulled his hand out of her reach.

"No," he repeated, this meeting Squall's eyes as he spoke. "They're right. You can't go. You're too valuable, too important. And if you go, you won't make it back."

Even as Nida spoke he knew what he said was true, or at least true enough for the purpose of this meeting. What else could the brief glimpses of fog-dreams have meant? Let Squall go and something terrible would happen, something that would find Nida looking on with Squall at the edge of death. Refuse and submit to the nightmare that had plagued him in the week since Joshua's death.

"You won't," Nida repeated, refusing to back down from the challenge in Squall's silence, in his gray-blue eyes. "You're a Sorceress Knight. You're a leader of one of the major military forces in this world, the son of another. Your death would destroy hope, destroy our chances to survive. It would be better to send Seifer than you."

"Thanks," Seifer said, sounding less than flattered by Nida's words.

"Then who?" Squall asked, but Nida could read the expression there for once, as plain as if it were Selphie he was staring at. Squall already knew the answer Nida would give, was expecting it, and even though he didn't like the idea, Nida knew that Squall would agree.

"Me."

The protests were even louder now, and the arguments were no doubt less pleasant. None of them would suggest that Nida was important to save as much as they would say he was something that could not be delivered into the hands of their enemies. Some would no doubt say he wasn't trustworthy, that he would betray them, that he would deliver the power of Hyne into Megill's hands. What they said, though, Nida didn't know. His eyes still held Squall's, refusing to back down from the denial there.

"No," Squall said, quietly. Chances were that no one but Nida heard him over the debate going on.

"It has to be me," Nida said, not bothering to pitch his voice low. He knew as he spoke he would draw the attention of others, would silence everything around them eventually. They would hear him out, even if they didn't want to, and they would have no choice but to agree. "They'll know someone is coming, will be able to kill whoever we choose before anything can be done. Except for me. They need me, and they need me alive."

"That's the problem," Seifer said, jumping into the conversation. "We can't give you to them, especially when some of them clearly want to kill you."

Nida thought back to Joshua, but he shook his head. "No. If I'm in their midst, they won't let me come to harm. Sure, some might want me dead, but from what Joshua and Elijah said, that's a small group."

"Small and outspoken is bad," Quistis offered. "They might be willing to risk anything to kill you."

"And the others will risk anything to protect me," Nida countered. "They won't just let me live, they'll bring me to Megill or whoever else is in charge. We need to get to a leader to negotiate."

"But they won't let you out," said Xu, frowning. "You're too value to them to let you go."

"Selphie, Zell and Quistis can all tell you that getting out isn't as much of a problem as the negotiating. It was my specialization before flying. Getting in and getting out. I'm also good enough at combat to handle myself."

"I don't..." someone started to say, Nida wasn't sure who , but Squall shook his head and there was silence.

"I don't think you should do this," Squall said at last.

"We don't have a choice," Nida pointed out.

"I know."