Author's Note: Yep, things have continued at last. I've finished classes (mostly), lined up job interviews, and enjoyed a brief vacation. But I'm back now and let's see what we can't do for this story, right?

Hyne's War - Chapter 24

The world comes back in escalating phases. First comes the kind of splitting headache that makes a man feel like the world is ending around him—Nida's seen the end of the world before so he had a good baseline to compare to. Next is the slowly growing sound level, and as it reaches a crescendo it only adds to the pain in his head, adding past the point where words are meaningless agony. Next—and this may be his own fault—light starts to seep in around the corners of his mind (or is it his eyes?) and by now the comparison of the world collapsing around him doesn't even begin to come close to describing the pure agony that he's in. All Nida can do is groan in pain—a sound which hurts on its own—and throw an arm over his eyes. Whatever had happened, was happening, he frankly didn't care anymore. Let Boyce kill him, let Irvine shoot him, let Hyne himself dance upon his body. Nida didn't care. He'd checked out, left the building, goodbye cruel world.

"Move!" the business-like, familiar, blessed voice of Kadowaki ordered someone, cutting through the otherwise meaningless rush of sounds. "Nida?"

"Everything hurts," someone croaked as Nida opened his mouth to speak. Or maybe he said it. How was that possible? It sounded nothing like him. Yet when he moved his tongue in his mouth it felt heavy, his mouth parched, and if he really focused—which was painful—he could feel his throat sore from disuse. Just how long had he been out? Better yet, just where was he and how did he get here? And who else was here?

"I know it's going to hurt, but I need your arm, Nida. I'm going to hook you up to an IV with pain killers," Kadowaki said, her voice as low as a whisper, and pleasantly cool in his head.

Still, there's a long moment where he was tempted to refuse. Obeying meant exposing his head to light and daggers of pain lancing into his skull with no care for his sanity. Yet the allure of painkillers was too much to pass up. Eyes scrunched tightly against the evil of light, Nida relinquished his arm to Kadowaki. There wasn't even any pain as the needle slid into the back of his hand, and it was only when he felt the weird sensation of the IV against his arm that he realized another was in his other.

"What...?" he started to ask, lifting his left hand a little.

Kadowaki, ever quick, was right there with the answer. "You've been unconscious for a while. It was necessary to give you fluids and nourishment intravenously. The painkillers were avoided..."

"Kadowaki..." Squall's voice warned, but the doctor seemed to ignore him.

"Because you've been out for days. You hit your head rather badly and there was concern when you didn't awaken that you had slipped into a coma."

"Did...?"

"Yes, though Squall will deny it."

"How long?" he asked, already feeling a slight easing of the pain in his system.

"A week," a new voice, Irvine's, offered.

And that brought it all back so much better than anything else could have. The mission. Elijah, still in love with him and sorry. Elijah, dead and bloody in his arms. Boyce offering him something he couldn't quite refuse. Boyce awe struck at the presence of another. And Irvine, standing there like an impossible dream, with unexpected words on his lips. And then nothing but the void between one blink of an eye and another, and he was here—wherever that was.

"Irvine," Nida gasped, struggling to push himself up into a sitting position.

Immediately there were two sets of hands at both of his shoulders, pushing him back against the bed—score one point for the infirmary as his location—and there's not much Nida could do but obey the implicit command. That and try to glare at whoever was responsible, but he was sure some of the effect was lost with his eyes closed. Still, it seemed to have an effect as he felt himself rising into a sitting position as the bed below him started to lift him up. At least someone was willing to work with him here.

"Looks like no one wants you sitting up under your own power," Irvine drawled. "Can we all agree that this will work?"

"Yes," Kadowaki agreed in a tone that brooked no argument. "Squall?"

There weren't any words, but it was likely Squall nodded in agreement because no one tried to relower his bed. Better yet, the hands against his shoulders had disappeared, and sounds were losing their painful edge. The painkillers were totally taking effect, and for that Nida was thankful. Enough so that he tried to crack open an eye, and found to his delight that the bit of light didn't hurt. Slowly he started to open his eyes, letting them adjust to the low light of the room.

"What do you last remember?"

"Squall, you are not having a debriefing in my infirmary!" Kadowaki snapped even as she started to resolve in his vision at his right side.

"That isn't my intention," Squall informed her, his blurry mass of black on Nida's left side.

"If you two are going to fight, could you take it outside?"

There was silence at Irvine's question, yet before Nida could voice his own opinion the two seemed to melt away from his sides. Nida listened to their footsteps, Squall's hard in combat boots and Kadowaki's the whisper soft of canvas as they strode away. Soon there was the soft hiss of the door sliding open and closed, then a muffled sound that was likely one or the other starting into whatever fight had been brewing.

"They were worried," Irvine said with a sigh. "We all were."

At the sound of Irvine's voice Nida started searching for him, his rapidly focusing eyes soon finding the gunner perched on the edge of a chair on the left side of his bed. Irvine was leaning forward, his chin resting against steepled hands supported by arms braced against knees. One of Irvine's shotguns lay across his lap—apparently Nida needed protection, or Irvine did—and his trademark hat was nowhere in sight. His face was a study in concern: his brow furrowed, bags heavy under his eyes, his hair pulling loose from his normally well tended queue. It might have been out of respect for Nida's state that Squall and Kadowaki had left, but Irvine's state obviously hadn't hurt. He looked like he'd been roughly woken from a bad dream long ago, and hadn't slept a wink since.

"Irvine," Nida croaked again, earning a sad smile from his student and friend.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Nida. If I'd known what would happen, I never would have let this go on so long." Something about what he'd said must have been funny or ironic or something, because Irvine gave a weary, half-hearted chuckle. "I ask you, what good is our curse if it can't tell you things like this?"

Our curse?

"Irvine, just what happened back there?"

"Shit, that's a hard question with a long answer. How about you start by answering me? What is the last thing you remember? And I'm not looking for a debrief here."

Nida clawed through his memories, trying to figure out if there was anything he was missing before answering.

"Your grandfather pushing me down the steps."

"Sorry about that. I should have anticipated the reaction. But the dreams aren't always clear on the hows or whys or even whats, and you know it. Please, I can see it in your eyes, but we'll never get through this is you ask even half the questions Squall and Seifer did.

"So let's just start with why I was there. The night before I showed up, I had the first future dream I've ever had involving you. And you'll understand what I mean when I say it was crystal clear. I saw myself sneaking through red sandstone tunnels. Suddenly I was in a black and white room, and I saw you on steps, Boyce with you, holding his hand out. I took a step forward, and when I did Diablos seemed to fade from my mind. I moved back a step and he was back. When I looked up Boyce was enraged, raising his axe, and I lifted my gun. Then... I woke up.

"Immediately I ran to find Squall, not knowing what to tell him, but knowing I had to do something. The clear dreams always come true. Always. They can't be changed like the shadow dreams. Whatever else, I was going to find you, faced with Boyce, and in danger. Turned out you weren't the only one. When I found Squall, and mind you this was about five in the morning, he was in his office with Seifer, bent over some maps and while they were talking, they were writing notes to each other.

"Bugged," Nida mumbled, and Irvine nodded.

"Yeah, I'll get to that. Anyway they seemed surprised to see me, and completely baffled when I told them what had happened. Squall's face went stoney and cold like he does when he isn't quite sure what the data before him means. Seifer was half furious at me, started shouting about crazy idiots and their 'fucking dreams' and all that. At last they went real quiet and started writing furiously on their pads. Before I knew it I was being swept out of the office by two testy gunbladers, one promising me the debrief of my life in addition to reprimands for keeping vital information from my superior officer, the other promising to have my head if my stupidity got you killed."

"Seifer..."

"Are you telling this story or am I?"

Nida started to raise his hands defensively, only to find he didn't have the strength. "Sorry. I just don't understand why."

"There was something about working hard to keep your ass alive, and he could accept some foolish grand sacrifice, but not if it was meaningless. Anyway, as they rushed me out, they grabbed any cadet or student they saw and sent them to find the others. But I didn't understand why we were heading to the residential wing with two armed SeeDs from outside of Squall's office following us. When we reached a room, Squall gestured for the SeeDs to flank the door, Seifer drew his gunblade, and they had me stand aside as Squall punched in his override code. The door slid open and there was Xu, Elijah's knives in hand, hollering like a banshee."

Here Irvine paused for a moment, obviously waiting for some amazed reaction from Nida. Too bad Nida was hardly surprised.

"What, you aren't cutting in here? Where's the shock and awe?"

"Seifer and I figured it out when Squall got hit by a 'stray' crossbow bolt during the attack. After that we wanted to try and keep things from her."

"I really wish I'd known this."

"It was a personal suspicion. And if we can't trust her, who could we trust?"

Irvine sighed, leaned back in his chair, and stroked the stock of the shotgun in his lap. "That attitude is going around a lot these days. Anyway, she went for Squall, who wasn't armed. The SeeDs didn't even know what was going on. Squall was expecting a peaceful resolution I guess, because Lionheart wasn't even in hand. Seifer, though, moved the second the door opened, and Xu didn't even get two feet before Hyperion was through her. Yet she still tried to cut anyone who came near with those poisoned blades until she was finally dead. And Squall just stood there, watching. When Seifer pulled his gunblade free, Squall ordered the SeeDs with us to dispose of the body. Then he locked down the room with a special code, mumbled something to Seifer about them being even, and started off like we weren't there. Seifer was left to grab up her lost GF before she was dragged away.

"Anyway, when we got to the conference room everyone was there and confused. Squall announced Xu's death, that the attack on the Zebalgans was being moved up and that Seifer and I would be sent in an hour early to extract you. It was like..."

"He knew he couldn't hold you back," Nida supplied. "That's probably because of my trip to Winhill."

"Seifer said the same thing. They were quick to accept that if I seriously felt my dream would happen, it would. They never even asked why I did until we got back after the fight."

"What happened? Boyce...?"

"I couldn't kill him, Nida. He's all the family I have left beyond you."

Nida stared at Irvine a minute, certain he'd had to have heard the other man wrong. And yet Irvine just sat there, staring at him, waiting for some reaction, some response.

"Excuse me?"

"The line of descent from Vascaroon never had many branches. Whether it's fate or chance, there are rarely more than two daughters born to the line in a generation. And those don't always have children. Ultimately one woman had two daughters by two different men. Those sisters were vastly different, and yet apparently similar in ways in life. One moved to Esthar where she met a man of the blood of Zebalga, wed him, and was lost to her sister's knowledge. The other moved to Trabia, met a man, wed him, and gave birth to a son, the first of the line. But her husband's foster father was the greatest threat to her child, and she forbade the man from seeing the child, and was able to teach her son much about his role in life, and what he was heir to."

"You're the heir?" Nida asked.

"Yeah. And from everything my mother taught me, your own abilities stem from being of the bloodline. Everything I know points to you being my cousin."

"But if Boyce is your grandfather that means..."

"He's spent the better part of my life thinking I was dead. My mom thought he suspected what she was after a while, so when our town was attacked by Adel's forces and my father killed, she took me and fled. Over the next year she taught me everything I know about the prophecies of our ancestors, and then delivered me to the Kramer's orphanage to protect me. I haven't seen her since, not in person, but I've seen her death in a dream. Ever since then I've lived with my secret, terrified that the Zebalgan boogie-man would come and get me. When I heard of Boyce's retirement I went to see it myself, but tried to stay out of sight. When the announcement video came out I knew what was up and..."

"You were afraid they'd discovered you."

Irvine nodded, raising a hand to rub at his eyes. "I've had the dreams all my life, but I never spoke of them. I always avoided too much time with GFs to protect the memories of my mother and her lessons. I wrote everything in a book when Matron taught me how to write, and rewrote it when I was older. I'd lived my whole life with the secret, so careful, and suddenly I was found out. I didn't have a clue what was going on. The only thing I did know was that I couldn't say anything. Ever since I'd met Elijah I'd dreamt of watching him through the scope of a rifle, my finger hesitating on the trigger. I could never trust him. Then the night of his escape... He took you Nida, he didn't come for me.

"To be honest, I was kind of upset. My whole life I was special. I was the heir of ancient prophecy, meant to give the gift of the great magic Hyne always meant humans to have to the world. Then, through my dreams, I even became involved with reuniting my childhood friends, saving the world from a sorceress corrupted by her own gift, and earning a place of honor in the world. But when Elijah came to take you, none of that mattered because I wasn't special. It wasn't me they wanted but my teacher and friend. I tried to comfort myself in those first moment with the idea that he came for you because of your friendship, but in the end, when you told everyone what he said, I wasn't sure anymore. And all because of one thing I hadn't noticed until then.

"I've seen a lot of things in my dreams, Nida. Things I believed and wanted. Things I believed and hated. Things I couldn't believe and feared. I saw the war's approach, and my killing Matron. I saw Rinoa, her eyes golden and full of Ultimecia's hatred. I saw time compression, Ellone, so many things. Some things I could, and did, change. Others I had to stand back and accept. In my dreams I've seen others die and I've managed to prevent those. But in the whole of my dreams there were three things I'd never seen. The role I would play as the heir, the plotting of the Zebalgans, and you.

"Until a week ago, Nida, you've never been in the futures I'd seen. I hadn't realized it, but it was true. You'd always been a mystery to me, and that wasn't a problem until you were marked as the heir. I came to realize as you revealed your dreams that you couldn't be anyone but the child of the aunt I never knew, but I started to fear that maybe you were something else as well. Something dangerous. And I don't know why."

"Neither do I," Nida admitted. "The only thing I could begin to think of is that Boyce thinks my father was a Zebalgan."

Irvine shrugged. "That agrees with what my mother said, but who knows if that is it or not. I just knew that when I saw the dream that things had changed. What I was dreaming was a pivotal moment in time, one I had to be at, and had to act in. Was fated to act in. And when I was there, in that moment, any guilt I felt at letting you go into their hands, at risking you, letting people thing you were the heir... it doubled when I saw Boyce about to strike you. You could die, for me. So I acted, acted as I always should have. I revealed myself. I wasn't expecting his reaction, though, and I definitely wasn't expecting your fall. You hit your head pretty badly on the stairs, and you went still. In my anger I shot at Boyce, nicked him with a bullet. He was shocked, angry, betrayed. I don't know what he would have done if Seifer hadn't shown up then. Seeing you knocked out, Elijah dead, and Boyce coming at me, he threw himself into a fight with Boyce like a mother Behemoth protecting her pups.

"I went for you, started to try to stabilize you, but my junctions weren't working. Suddenly there was the buzzing in my head you get when there's a GF nearby. I opened myself to it, and two presences raced into my mind. Siren and something called Salamander. The buzzing grew worse, frantic, and then it was gone. Some whispering voice was in my head then, being very polite and informing me that if I wanted to save the life of the eagle, I had to shut down this machine. By the time I did that and got back to you, Boyce had fled, and Seifer was pumping you full of carefully directed cure spells. You wouldn't wake up, though.

"In the end we grabbed your things that we could find, and beat a hasty retreat. That's pretty much all the important stuff. The assault was bad. None of the Zebalgans laid down their arms. Even children had to be subdued. A large number survived and escaped. They've been harrying the allied nations since. There's been little for SeeD to do but deploy small contingents of fighters to places we feel are at greater risk of attack."

"Then the war's over?"

Irvine shook his head. "If my dreams are true, then things are far from over. And since it was a dream that told me to come down here today because you would awaken and need me, I'm still going to put faith in them."

"I'm not sure about need, but I think it's been helpful. You've taught me a lot, but I do have one last question."

"I'll try to answer the best I can. But you have to answer one for me as well."

"Fair. If we're both sons of Vascaroon, then which of us it the heir?"

"Have you ever dreamt of the stone altar?"

"No."

"Then believe me when I tell you that the burden's mine. Whenever I dream of it I know I'm before the core of Hyne's power."

"But you said you'd never dreamt of the role you'd play as heir."

"Never the role, but always the place. I don't know where it is, but I know I'll stand there someday. Now for my question. How did Elijah...?"

Blood on his hands.

"You know how he died," Nida hissed, almost surprised by his own vehemence, and the way his voice sounded as he spoke with his throat still dry and rasping. "You saw my weapon stained with blood. My body. I pierced his heart, to spare him a far worse fate."

"Worse than death?"

"There's something about the Zebalgan blood. What their king commands they obey. How sick is that/ And so I had to kill him. For weeks I dreamed his death in the fog, and I couldn't change it, Irvine, because I didn't know it was him. I killed him, Irvine. Tell me this, how am I supposed to live with that?"

"Did you love him?" The question was almost surprising. Nida hadn't known anyone but Seifer knew. Still, why not answer now? Who did it hurt?

"I'll never know that now, will I?"

The words were cold, bitter, in a way Nida never would have thought possible, and they called back to mind the offers Boyce made him. The pledge that he could have Elijah back. All the thoughts, the temptations he'd almost given into, and who would know? Who would know he almost betrayed everything for the promise of a love he wasn't even sure he had.

"Nida..."

"Please, I need some time to think. Would you..."

"I need to get some sleep," Irvine agreed, rising and stretching. "They'll send one of the others to watch over you."

"I want to be alone."

"There's been a few attempts on important people in Garden, including Squall. We caught those attempting, but we can't be sure we have them all or that they won't go after you next. It isn't widely known what I am yet, but you're still at risk. Someone will be around tonight and after to protect you, until you can handle yourself again. Don't forget, you were injured pretty badly when we found you. Kadowaki handled your shoulder well, but that doesn't mean you're going to be ready at the drop of a hat. But I do suggest you get on your feet soon. Something tells me we're going to need you far sooner than anyone would like."

Alone didn't last long in truth, but it did in effect. After a short visit from Kadowaki to deliver him a bland meal of mashed turnip—Nida hadn't even known there were turnips growing in fifty miles of Balamb Garden—Seifer entered the infirmary and hauled the seat by the side of the bed to the foot of it. Nida didn't even have a chance to great the other man, because Almasy immediately sat down, Hyperion across his lap, and went to sleep. Understandable considering it was nearly three in the morning and Nida's awakening had interrupted the already iffy sleep schedule at Garden to the point where the only reason Kadowaki and Squall had been there was because of Irvine. The problem was that Nida, he wasn't tired at all. Fallout from being unconscious a week, or maybe because of all the thoughts in his mind.

First and foremost in his head was Elijah. A nightmare he couldn't escape, only made worse by talking to Irvine. Everything he'd come to suspect about the dreams had been confirmed by Irvine, and it was horrible. If he'd somehow known, if he'd been able to read beyond the fog and haze, to realize it was Elijah... Maybe he could have saved him. But how? What could he have done differently? Could he have broken Boyce's control over Elijah? He had to think not. Two days he'd talked to the people, tried to make them long for peace, and yet they'd still fought the SeeDs, despite Nida promising that SeeD wouldn't attack those who surrendered. Boyce's power over his people was too complete, had almost been strong enough to claim Nida. How could they win in the face of that?

And yet he'd dreamt in fog and smoke. Somewhere there had been a choice, a way to save Elijah, and he hadn't taken it. A path had been offered to him, and he hadn't taken it. The question was where he'd taken the left turn instead of the right. And he was terrified he knew exactly where he had. If he'd taken Boyce's offer, Elijah would have lived. Would it have made any difference anyway? He was a son of Vascaroon, but was he the heir? If he wasn't, he wouldn't be the one to see how to unlock Hyne's power, and he wouldn't give them what they wanted. He could have worked with them and taken more time to work on turning the hearts and minds of the people against Boyce.

Or would it be that by working with the Zebalgans he would dream only of what was helpful to Boyce? Would turning himself over to Boyce have placed him fully under the man's control? Maybe he wouldn't have been able to prevent himself from helping the Zebalgans, in fighting the people he had known for years? What would he have been then but a puppet? How could he have helped anyone if he was a slave to Boyce's whims?

Nida was jerked out of his thoughts as he felt something strike him lightly in the chest. When he opened his eyes—which he'd closed as he thought—he was met by glimmers of silver on his chest, two pieces of bright metal reflecting a small lamp across the room. The closer he looked the better he could see the slight bluish cast to the metal that marked it as mithril, and the shape of one of the two objects was familiar. It was the twisted wire and beads of metal that formed the chain which housed Siren. With it was another charm on another chain, this one shaped vaguely like a lizard, but with the rough, licking edges of flame at the tail and head. Hesitantly he reached for the pair of charms, and as he touched them a familiar warmth flowed into his hand, eager and searching. Within seconds the music of Siren's voice echoed through his head.

My dove! Siren exclaimed, eager and reaching into all parts of his mind. Before Nida could even compose a thought in reply, the GF had settled into her usual place in his mind and refused to be dislodged.

Never are you to do such a reckless thing again! She reprimanded, her voice in his mind wavering. I thought you would die! You nearly did. Did my oath to protect you mean nothing? Had it not occurred to you that I might be able to dull the edge of that black hearted vulture's words in your mind?

Siren, Nida responded, his thought mingled with joy and sorrow. I'm sorry.

Sorry? How does that make it better? Things could have been different.

No, a new voice said, a higher, crackling kind of voice that made Nida think of sparks in a fire. I am sorry to correct you, singer, but the eagle is correct in one thing. Your presence would have granted him nothing, and your casting from him may have won his story through had he died.

Nida lay there a moment, shocked by the new voice. He wasn't equipped with any other GFs, and from what Veringas said, it was those you were bonded best to you that would speak the easiest. Yet this didn't seem to be the voice of his second strongest bond, Pandemonium.

No, I am not the wind bag either, the voice chuckled. Never have you known me, but I have anticipated your arrival by decades. I am known as Salamander, and you are the eagle. Holder of the heart of the one I have searched all these years.

Elijah... Nida realized with a start. Then you are the one he...

Yes. It pained me, as it does all our kind, to be used to harm one of the blood. But long had it been since I came into the hands of the clan, and when I saw you last I had not been truly awakened.

I don't...

Nor did I expect you to understand, child. Some parts of the old lore are passed but not understood. Such is the burden that must be faced. I and other elder born would happily school you and the coyote, but that is for another time. That is not the purpose of the moment. The wolf brought us to you, against the lion's wishes, for a reason. His bond with the fiery one grants him a perception not unlike what the songstress gives you, but one sensitive to other things.

Coyote? Wolf? Lion? Lore? I would really appreciate it if you either started to explain or left me and Siren in peace.

I forgot humans are not bestowed with patience like our kind can manage. Forgive me this. It is long since I last awoke. I have been brought here to give you a gift, eagle. One I fear you sorely need.

And what gift is that?

Memory.

With the word came the fact. As Nida lay there, clutching the mithril charms, his mind seemed to run through his memories of Elijah on its own accord. Yet they were different, felt strange and wrong in his mind. Nor did it take long to figure out why. Seeing your own memories through the eyes of another was unnerving. Yet the more he watched, the more comfortable he was, bathed in the moments and the feelings that had belonged to Elijah.

Salamander lingered, perhaps too long, on the final days of Elijah's life. One the joy of seeing Nida, the relief of admitting Boyce's control over him, and the fear and sorrow the night before his death. Nida had to watch as Boyce commanded Elijah not to see Nida that night, felt the heartbreak the next day as he drew his sword against Nida, and the relief as he felt the blade of Nida's weapon bite into his chest.

When it was over, Nida wept quietly to himself. As he did he felt a warm weight settle against his side, comforting and soothing to feel. Through the tears he could just barely make out the shape of Salamander pressed against his side. The GF was half transparent, but his form left an impression on the sheets.

He didn't quite know what was happening, and Nida didn't quite care.

"Did it help?"

Nida was jerked into wakefulness at Seifer's question, and for a long moment he wasn't sure where he was, much less what Seifer meant. Then he clenched his hand and felt the corners of Salamander's and Siren's charms prick his fingers and he knew.

"How did you know?"

The question earned him the rolling of eyes they gave each other when they wanted to refer to the GFs when others were around.

"So, did it help?"

"Yeah," Nida said, unwrapping his fingers from the charms. "I hope you won't get in trouble for this."

Seifer shrugged and without asking permission sat on the edge of Nida's bed.

"Squall can do what he likes but we both know he can't afford to reprimand me for that GF being out of Veringas's hands for a night. Ifrit thought it would do you good."

"Salamander told me. You know, it's still not easy to admit they talk to me."

That earned him a smirk. "Selphie gets jealous when I zone out from Ifrit. Zell thinks I'm more disrespectful than ever. Quistis doesn't seem to know what to think."

All things come in time, Siren purred, her voice low and sleepy. Who ever would have guessed a GF could be sleepy?

"I hear you handled Xu," Nida said, untangling Salamander's necklace from Siren's.

"She didn't give me much of a choice. But it's good to know I wasn't wrong."

"I was worried when Elijah confirmed her status for me that she would try something."

"Shortly after you left we discovered the first bug in Squall's office purely by accident. I was toying with a paper weight, tossing it around. Squall was getting annoyed, made a grab for it, and I dropped it. When I crawled under his desk to get it, Ifrit started snarling in my head. He drew my attention to the bug. Apparently the frequency of the things aren't something the awakened Guardians appreciate. Squall's had us sniffing them out all week. I'm sure they'll test you and Siren on them soon enough."

"Goodie. I always wanted to grow up to be a police dog," Nida grumbled as the chains came apart. Satisfied he grabbed Siren before she could dig further into his mind, thrust her into her necklace, and offered both to Seifer. When the gunblader held out his hand to accept it, Nida caught the sight of a now familiar twinkle of silver-blue metal at Seifer's wrist. Apparently Seifer held his own chain as a bracelet instead of a necklace. Before Nida had left Veringas had yet to complete a construction that pleased Ifrit. The final form now seemed to be a swirling fireball of wrapped mithril cord, and it looked more substantial than Siren's own charm. More interesting was the second charm beside it, one taking the form of what looked to Nida to be nothing more than a rune.

"Who you got there?"

Seifer looked confused a moment, then lifted his arm up and pulled back the sleeve of his uniform. His smile was full of pride as he displayed the charms.

"Apparently Bahamut has a thing for me. He's far quieter than Ifrit, barely says anything. Shiva's gotten settled in to her new arrangement, and I'm certain she speaks to Squall because the Ice Prince has gotten colder lately."

"I go into a coma for a week and everything changes," Nida sighed with mock affront.

"That will teach you."

"Hey Seifer..."

"Yeah Nidulus?"

"Irvine said..."

"Whatever cowboy said is an exaggeration. I'm just not fond of the idea of someone killing something I've put effort into protecting."

"Wow, really makes a guy feel appreciated."

"I'm not here to make you feel good. Just to make sure you survive."

"They just keep putting you on exciting mission, don't they?"

"Flyboy, you don't know by half."