Notes: Sorry this isn't read for typos. I kind of got derailed by a LOT of things these last few days, and so this chapter is being written shortly before its posting. What can you do?

Hyne's War – Chapter 27

Geez, I'd forgotten about this thing. Glad I found it though. Things are getting worse, and, well, maybe writing it out will help. Maybe then I'll be able to figure everything out.

I found this old thing today because I was cleaning my room. Yeah, horror. Me, cleaning. But I guess it's because I've been thinking a lot more lately. Not about the people, or anything I supposed to think about given my role. Nor do I think about my future as a SeeD. The only thing I find myself thinking about these days is him. Is Nida.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking about him during classes, during weapons training (which has led to some inadvertent displays of my real speed to save myself some really bad cuts from Alana), and of course when I'm with him. I notice how he's grown since we met, the determination in his eyes when he's working on some problem, the true happiness in his smile when he sees me. Hyne, that smile. My heart. It...

It skips a beat.

Is this what it's like then? A tightness in my chest. My hands getting all sweaty when there's a reason to touch him? My hands shake. I smile when he smiles. Every spare moment I get is with him.

I think...

I think I'm starting to love him.

Nida sighed, shaking his head as he read the entry in Elijah's journal. As much as he'd wanted to spend the previous night reading, there had been other things to deal with. He'd spent hours—with the help of Fujin and Raijin—moving his now meager possessions back to his old rooms, and cleaning. The moving hadn't taken long. The cleaning had. Raijin hadn't been much help but for the moving of stuff, whereas Fujin had been a silent, and devoted worker. That being said, she had more than once cast some look or other at Nida as they gathered up shattered pieces of furniture or scraps of clothing. She had looked particularly disapproving over the destruction of his weapons, but even though she looked like she wanted to ask him for an explanation, she'd kept her tongue and opinions to herself. Nida himself had been rather disappointed in himself as he looked over the destruction. So much of his life gone in a burst of rage. Not to mention the weapons. All he had left was the metal practice weapons, his carved staff, and the poleax that had wrought all of the destruction.

Late in the night Seifer had joined them to help Nida and Raijin maneuver the new furniture, while Fujin had slowly but surely sorted through Nida's damaged clothing to separate out the surviving pieces from the damaged. There hadn't been too much to make it, though Fujin had quietly promised to see if she couldn't look for a few extra pairs of pants and shirts next time she was in Balamb. It was a kind offer, for all that Nida wasn't sure whether he felt comfortable with the idea or not. By the end the other two had left Nida alone with Seifer to fetch dinner for them all, to be shared as they 'christened' his new room—why Raijin felt a new room needed christened was beyond Nida's comprehension, but he'd insisted. Then... Then Seifer has handed over one of the other items that had been recovered from the Zebalgan sanctuary. Elijah's sword.

Now Nida leaned against the wall beside the door of the conference room, two hours early for the scheduled meeting, journal in hand and Rupio hanging at his side. The few people he'd encountered as he'd strode through Garden in his uniform and wearing the weapon had given him odd looks. Cadets who had days before been praising him for his success over Elijah seemed to hesitate now. SeeDs who had heard of Nida's breakdown looked confused, or at least respectful of what kind of cost killing a close friend had clearly placed on him. Not that Nida cared about any of it. At the very least the sword was a weapon Nida had been trained in—to a degree—that wouldn't demand two hands. None of his polearms would do, and all of his training on the tambo had expected to have both hands armed. It just wasn't something he could handle, not with his shoulder still recovering from the wound inflicted by the very sword he now carried.

Weird, how looking upon the pieces of the halberd that had slain Elijah made him want to scream in anguish, but the blade the man had carried almost comforted him.

"Nida."

At the sound of Squall's voice, Nida closed the journal and slipped it into the nearest pocket. There was no guarantee that Squall wouldn't demand the thing if he learned what it contained. Nida wasn't ready to part with it yet. There was too much to learn. And not just about the Zebalgans.

"Sir. Reporting as ordered," Nida said, carefully raising his injured arm to salute, and trying not to wince.

"Stand down," Squall ordered, in his quiet, non-commanding way. That didn't stop Nida from snapping to the proper stance in response. Better to start right now at reinforcing that he was here and serious, not like he had been when he'd destroyed his room.

Squall just rolled his eyes before turning his attention towards the door of the conference room and punching in the code at the wall panel. The door slid back with a whoosh, and Squall stepped aside and gestured for Nida to proceed him into the room. Once inside the door swept closed behind them, and left Nida to select a chair. It was almost tempting to just take his normal seat, but it was too far from the seat Squall took to really work. Instead, with a sigh, Nida took Xu's old place, sitting carefully and placing his sword on the table.

"The sword..." Squall said, sitting himself and frowning at it.

"Right of conquest," Nida said, staring hard at his superior and almost daring him to say otherwise. "And my shoulder's still wounded. I needed something for one hand."

"It could upset people," he pointed out, placing a few files on the table and starting to organize them for the pending meeting.

"Or it could remind them that I'm to be taken seriously, even if I'm not the heir."

Squall nodded at that, and in a way that made Nida think that he'd heard some different opinions about Nida now that his status was different. More suspicions of who he really sided with as likely as not. Well, maybe this action would lay it all to rest. Unlikely, but hey, it was worth the try.

"About your status... You are, and always have been, a SeeD first and foremost," Squall informed him, frowning. "Anything else is merely a brief note in your file."

Maybe it was supposed to be comforting, but Nida sure didn't feel comforted. Was that really all he was? A piece of military resource, with everything unique and meaningful for him nothing but a briefly worded note in a file? And some interesting notes they had to be. 'Suspected terrorist sympathizer,' 'has prophetic dreams,' and 'murdered his best friend.' Not that the files would even bother calling it murder.

"Thank you, sir," Nida mumbled in response, glaring down at the sword rather than looking at Squall. Now that Irvine had admitted his position as heir, Nida would be relegated back to being nothing more than footnote in the annuls of history. Not that he'd really wanted to be famous or remembered. Just recognized for what he did. Was that too much to ask? Then again, after a short bout with infamy, maybe obscurity was better.

"There are a few things I'd like to go over about your time with the Zebalgans. Your debrief was sufficient on most details, but there are a few things I want to clear up."

"Such as?"

"You mentioned the final two members of this Zebalgan council. What can you tell me about them?"

Nida sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure what else there is to tell, to be honest. I was never allowed to see the faces of either of them. What I know from Elijah was that they were the final members of the eight person council. Joshua, Xu, Ruth and Andria were the other four. Of the remaining two that aren't Boyce, there is a male and a female. The woman was a yellow, meaning she works as a researcher. The man brown, support work."

Of course there was more than that. There were the impressions of the pair as they'd spoken to him. The ways they'd reacted to him, to his words, to Boyce. Surely that could be of some help.

"The man... Was more practical than the woman. More rooted in facts than emotions. The woman was more faith driven. Which Elijah pointed out was weird for a scientist. The man more open to opinions, almost as if he wanted there to be some option other than what Boyce was offering the world. The woman... I'm not sure if this will help identify her or anything, Squall, but she knew that Veringas was not only at Garden, but that he is the real force behind knowledge of GFs. I'm not sure if this got to them through Xu or because of something else. That's really all I can give you."

As he spoke, Squall had been jotting down notes, nodding silently to confirm his attentiveness. At last he finished whatever sentence he'd been working on and looked up and Nida, frowning.

"Nothing more?"

Nida could do nothing but shake his head, almost ashamed he hadn't asked for more from Elijah. Then again, Elijah had been very quiet when it came to the council. There was a pretty good chance that Boyce had sworn him, and the others, to a kind of silence that wasn't easily broken.

"No, sir. But in the light of what I learned from Joshua about some members of their people and council not believing that the Heir was needed..."

"Then the chances are he was either speaking about one of the people that have passed on, or the two surviving members."

"And not likely the man in brown," Nida pointed out. "Nor, I think, Xu. She was very supportive of me and friendly towards me after my 'status' came out. I expect she was as set in the beliefs of the heir as Elijah was. Which would leave the mysterious Ruth, and these two people I encountered. And with how willing the man was to hear me out..."

"There's the woman in yellow. She could be a threat to Irvine's safety, and yours. With you no longer marked as their chosen heir, and having personally killed two members of their council, you're not exactly high on the most popular list right now," Squall said with a sigh.

"Is that a guess, or do you have some proof on that?" Nida asked, frowning. Either way he wasn't sure he was going to be happy with the answer. Squall's guesses were good enough for him to be uncomfortable with the idea of leaving Garden before his shoulder healed without someone to back him up.

"Megill has told me as much. We received a coded transmission from Xu's account. The best guesses say that she gave him access codes to it before her death. The first message came through the day after you were recovered. We've kept her contact line open ever since, but have done our best to isolate it from the system. Megill has been using it to demand we turn over Irvine and you to him."

"Me for my head, Irvine for his position as heir."

"And for their apparent family connection," Squall confirmed. "Apparently he is offended that his grandson was brought into the Garden system."

That got Nida to scoff. "Ironic, isn't it?"

"How?"

"He sent his own nephew to Balamb Garden, worked with the Gardens himself, but finds the idea of his own grandson in one offensive."

Squall stared at Nida for a while, blinking. The look on his face was almost blank, as if nothing Nida had said had registered. Yet Nida could see something going on behind those eyes. Gears turning or something. Apparently Squall hadn't been aware. Apparently Nida had managed to leave that out in his last report.

"Elijah Zale was the son of Megill's brother. I can't explain the name change, but this is what Elijah told me. It was part of the reason that Elijah was the Heir to leading the people. He was Boyce's last blood relative."

Again Squall was silent, possibly processing what Nida had told him, and possibly just considering what it meant for their efforts. In the end, he shrugged and shook his head. There was nothing Squall could do with the information now, for all that it would have been valuable before all of this. How useful of a hostage could Elijah have been before this all started if he hadn't escaped? If they had known his worth?

"Because of Megill's current aims regarding you, I agreed to allow Fujin and Raijin act as guards for you because I can't afford to spare any of the higher level SeeDs at this point. We've got few people in the position to act as military leaders, and as you'll learn soon, we have need for every one. Including Seifer. I'm confident in their skills, though. I've fought them and they are good."

"I'm well aware, sir," Nida agreed. "I've dueled Raijin several times over the years for weapons training. Fujin also had a reputation. With my shoulder recovering, I need all the help I can get."

Squall nodded in agreement. At least they could agree on that. For all that Nida hated it.

"There is something more... I don't want you to be surprised by this during the meeting, and so I wanted you in here early. I need the Ragnarok battle ready at the earliest possible moment."

That left Nida staring at Squall in confusion. Why was Squall telling him this rather than the Esthari specialists who often worked with the dragon ship? They were better qualified to do an overhaul of the systems quickly, even if it did mean taking the Ragnarok out of their immediate and quick access. It wasn't as if the ship was great as a troop transport either, so...

"I can't be sure who we can trust right now," Squall continued as a way of explanation. "Sending the Ragnarok to Esthar for work could be crippling to us. To the war efforts."

"I've heard suggestions that the war is over now," Nida said, less because he believed it and more because he wanted to hear what Squall knew about what was going on.

"There are multiple reports from the highest levels of the intelligence agencies regarding troop movements. If the Zebalgans don't make a strike in the next few days, I'll be surprised. There are also rumors of air support."

And that would explain the need for the Ragnarok. For all of the troop transports, fliers, and other vehicles they had for land, air, and sea transportation, nothing quite came close to the fire power potential of the Rag. In the months since the Sorceress War the Ragnarok had been taken to Esthar twice to improve the ship. Now in addition to the machine guns in the 'hands' and the 'claws' themselves, there were several other offensive systems, not to mention defensive systems such as shock and awe and electromagnet chaff. Though it wasn't a troop transport, it was perfect for dropping specialists and elite fighters in tight areas, and getting back out intact.

"Of course sir. I'll have to have a few others to work with me. Other than my arm, there are a lot of serious systems that will need to be checked. Code, wiring, technical systems..."

"In the last few weeks we've managed to clear as many members of the mechanics department as we could manage. There are also a few FH specialists we've brought in and verified. You'll have them as a team to work with. In addition to that, you'll have a crew you will be expected to finish verification of, as well as cover basic training for."

"A crew, sir?"

Squall nodded, a faint frown visible around his eyes. "The Ragnarok must be prepared to launch at the shortest notice possible. I've had the verified mechanics retrofitting one of the bays with bulkheads and crew bunks. You'll be moving in with your chosen crew. They are to be made aware of proper management of the ship, and combat techniques."

"Sir... I've never..."

"Led a team. Yes, I know this. But you've proved yourself several times since this all began. I believe you're best suited for the position being offered. And it's a necessary position. Not just as scouting either. The Ragnarok is fast, but it's also a strong weapon. I won't let it go to waste."

That was kind of a vague answer, but more than enough for Nida. If Squall had faith in him, then he could do it. Squall had expected him to bring back Seifer, and he had. Squall had trusted him to deal with the Zebalgan camp, and he'd done his best there too.

"Yes sir. Is there anything else you need from me before the meeting begins?"

Again Squall shuffled through his papers, quickly sorting out a few things and selecting a handful of papers and passing them over to Nida. At a gesture from his commander, Nida started to page through the papers, his eyes catching all the key facts without the minute details. Such had been his training with counter intelligence classes, processing as much as was relevant as quickly as possible. What he saw in the papers Squall had given him was unnerving. Each page detailed the current air forces available to the Gardens, Esthar, Galbadia, Trabia, and a short paragraph apiece on the smaller countries. Gardens had never really developed in the way of air forces, and after the attack on Trabia Garden the already limited air strength was caught up in the Ragnarok, Balamb's fliers and troop transports, and Galbadia Garden's occasional armed flier. Trabia as a nation was hardly all that much better, most of their air forces being in the form of older model fighters that barely had the man power to support them. Esthar and Galbadia were the core of the strength of the world. Esthar had higher tech fighters, a reasonable fighting force but training relied strongly on system reliance, meaning that the pilots weren't always going to be able to handle technical issues. Galbadia's forces were better in technical aspects, and were well armed, but their military structure had been breaking down in the face of Zebalgan defections. The major leaders of the air force had disappeared, and unlike the army it was harder to disappear with a whole wing, meaning that the fighters were left behind with no guidance.

If the Zebalgans had any real air combat capabilities, they could easily deal some pretty telling blows by going for Galbadian air force bases and taking down the support networks for the Gardens and Trabia. With the lack of real military leaders in the air forces, there was going to be a problem in the future.

"This isn't good," Nida mumbled, though he knew that Squall was already more than aware of it.

"Things aren't much better with other divisions of forces either," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "There is less risk of desertion from regular enlisted, but without the command structure to guide them..."

"They might as well be useless," Nida agreed, putting the papers aside. "This is why the others are going to be busy, right? You're setting some of the A levels up as military leaders for a coalition?"

"And your opinion?"

That it wasn't his place to give an opinion. What did he really know of strategy? That was turning out to be one of Squall's real strong points. If anyone still doubted Squall was properly placed as the SeeD Commander, and leader of the united SeeD forces in the world. Cid hadn't gone wrong to turn to Squall, and unfortunately for him, Squall just kept having reasons and means to prove it.

But his commander had asked for his opinion, and thus Nida was obliged to give it.

"I think they'll have their work cut out for them. Organizing military forces isn't exactly something most of us were trained for. Not on the scales that we're talking about here. If they have to mind the people they are set to work with, protecting themselves at all times will become an issue. Seconds should be sent. Superficially to act as seconds and assist, as well as take over if something happens. But primarily they should act as body guards. They should be high level SeeDs we can be sure of. How that is I'm not sure, but it would be the best way to deal with things."

Again Squall was nodding, taking everything Nida said rather carefully. When he was done Squall leaned back in his chair, sighing. "That was what I feared you'd say. Seifer suggested the same thing. I hate to say it, but it might be necessary. The seconds would have to be given some meaningful rank as well, to put them within the hierarchy, but only in a position to report to the SeeD they are working with, or myself."

Then Squall was sitting forward again, flipping a folder open, and pushing it towards Nida.

In it was a list of names. All of the A level SeeDs left. Not that there were very many of them. Squall, Irvine, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, even Seifer... And Nida's own name. His eyes widened at that. The names fell into one of two columns. Squall, Zell, Quistis and Nida's in the first, Irvine, Seifer and Selphie in the second, in addition to Fujin and Raijin. The third column... the major common divisions of military forces. Command and strategy, land, sea, and air. The core of the militaries of the world cut into four slices of a pie, and divvied up between the people Squall could most trust.

"This..." Nida gasped, shocked. "You can't mean to..."

"Everyone else has been informed of what is expected of them, except for you, Fujin and Raijin. Once the Ragnarok is ready to your satisfaction, you will be expected to do a tour to inspect forces, set command structures in place, and meet with ranking officers of the various forces you will be commanding. I've already negotiated this with Galbadia, and after that I believe Esthar and Trabia will fall in line. You'll be assigned the equivalent rank of Lieutenant General. I know it's a lot to ask, but..."

A lot to ask? That was one of the understatements of a lifetime. As a high level SeeD he had been considered the equivalent rank of a Captain, with Squall two steps above him as—technically—a Lieutenant Colonel in any proper military organization. A Lieutenant General was another four steps above that, putting it 6 levels above where Nida technically stood. Well, five considering Squall's circuitous way of telling Nida about his promotion to Rank A—and even then he was jumping from Major to a three-star general with no warning. No ability to even contemplate such a potential advancement. How was it even possible?

Except the answer was obvious, wasn't it? Gardens stood apart from traditional military structure, but gave all of its SeeDs high level training. Training at or above the expectations of traditional military commission officers. They didn't train after high school. They didn't go to high school. They invested years of their lives into training, proved themselves battle worthy, and were immediately expected to be able to go out and lead anything from a one man unit to a battalion of cadets or local soldiers if the need arose. More was expected of them, more was doable for them because of the training and the GFs. And for the traditional military command structure to take them seriously, they had to step into ranks way outside of the traditional prevue of the Garden. As it was Garden's highest rank of any real connection to military understanding was Squall's traditional SeeD Command position, which was only a Lieutenant Commander in any real military. Even being a hero, he needed a rank to support it if he was to lead.

"This isn't... Sir... Squall, I'm neither a Rank A, nor anywhere near being any level of general. Sir."

"And I'm not ready to be a General, but those are the ranks Galbadia feels are necessary for us to be able to make use of their military forces. Ranks high enough that should make us accountable only to the nation leaders and to each other. Fujin and Raijin will be commissioned as Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel under your direct command for the time being."

"And the others?" Nida asked, staring at the list. Irvine was marked down as a Major General directly reporting to General Leonhart. Squall's neat handwriting in the margins also noted that the Sorceresses Rinoa and Edea would remain with him as much for their protection as his. Quistis and Selphie were to lead the united naval forces, likely ranked as Vice and Rear Admirals respectively. But the most puzzling was the unlikely combination of Zell and Seifer.

"Zell and Seifer?"

"Neither Quistis nor Selphie could do as much good with foot soldiers as Zell or Seifer. The Garden Council has been grooming Zell as a ground forces commander since the war. Seifer... He's no happier than Zell, but he's got experience with ground troops that is second to none. They'll have to deal with what's needed, and put aside their differences."

Easier said than done, but what could anyone really expect? War made for strange bedfellows, as it were said. If Xu hadn't turned out to be a traitor, she likely would have been sent with Zell to lead the ground forces, putting Seifer somewhere else. As it was, Squall clearly had to make use of the forces he had at his command.

"And Irvine..."

"For his protection," Squall admitted. "And the need to have him available if..."

If he dreamt something. Nida had to bite the inside of his lip. He could understand that provision. Unlike Irvine, he had a good reason to be deployed in another way. He knew air forces, he trained fighters and fliers. And from the implication in Squall's voice, Irvine had been given a dream since the Zebalgan refuge, which Nida hadn't. Part of Nida envied Irvine that. Another pitied him. And a third just wished that he didn't have to dream each night of Elijah's death, and of a glowing arch filled with pale blue light.

"I'll try not to let you down, Sir."

"You haven't so far. You've earned your promotion, Nomura. Don't think that this is just because of the war. When this is all over, and we've all had a bit of a break, I'd like you to reconsider my offer from before all of this started."

Offer? What offer? It actually took Nida a minute of seriously racking his brain before it came up. It had been before the meeting where Boyce's retirement had been announced, where Nida had been given the assignment to find Seifer, before things had changed. Two weeks before all of that there had been a full SeeD meeting where Squall had asked for volunteers to transfer to other Gardens to help redesign training programs to turn out better high level SeeDs. To help lead those Gardens. Nida had been one of those SeeDs Squall had singled out afterward to ask personally to consider a transfer. They'd had time, before everything had started, until Nida had to turn in his answer. And the whole need to make a decision had suddenly fallen by the wayside.

"Sir...?"

"I want you to consider a transfer. To Galbadia specifically. I feel you'd be useful in improving their program. And I think you could use the time away from Balamb."

Apparently Squall had figured out there was more going on between Nida and Elijah than he'd ever admitted.

"It might be easier for you to cope with the loss of your friend if you weren't here."

Or not. Oh well. For all that Squall was a born leader, he wasn't always the most perceptive on other things. At this point, explaining would be more pain than it was worth.

"I'll consider it, Sir. Now, if that is all, I believe I would appreciate some coffee and my pain medication before the proper begin of the meeting. If I might be excused."

Squall glanced at the wall clock, and when he looked so did Nida. There was still more than an hour. This had taken far less time than Nida had expected. Then again, he'd expected a full debrief.

"Under one condition, Nomura."

"Sir?"

"Large coffee. Black, one sugar. Two aspirin on the side."

"Yes sir," Nida agreed, pushing back from the table and lifting Rupio from the table. "I hope you don't mind if I kidnap a cadet to carry things here for me."

"Use Seifer," Squall suggested.

"Is that an order sir."

"Yes," he said, a slight, almost vicious smirk on his face. "I hear he likes to sleep in."

Apparently avoiding him wasn't the best answer to the problem. As much credit as I give him, Nida's still too perceptive to fool. Turns out I made him this promise last year to help him train when he got his first training weapon. Of course, back then I hadn't realized I was falling for him, hadn't been dreaming of kisses (yeah, that's a thing now). Anyway, Nida wasn't going to let me avoid him anymore. Forced my hand and I...

Why did I do that? I knew he wouldn't, couldn't feel the same way. I could have been gentler, told him instead of forcing it on him like that. And yet, for just a moment, he was mine.

It was almost everything I'd ever dreamt of. His lips were soft and warm, and the feel of them so perfect.

Hopefully I'll be able to mend our friendship after this. But I can't help but be thankful for the memory, however brief, of the moment where he was mine.

"Will you get your nose out of that book for a moment and listen to me?" Seifer demanded from somewhere behind Nida.

"I am listening to you," Nida said with a sigh, lowering the journal just long enough to get himself a mouthful of coffee that was just this side of scalding. "I've been listening since you woke up."

"Oh yeah?" Seifer snapped. "What was I just saying?"

"That you were going to see me dead for the atrocity of waking you up so early, and so cheerfully. Oh, and by the way, that was the twelfth time you've said that since you answered the door," Nida pointed out, smiling to himself.

"Well, it's no less true for the repetition," the blond snapped.

"Like I said, it was orders," Nida chuckled. "Though I find it quite interesting that Squall thinks you aren't a morning person. I seem to remember you being perfectly amenable to waking early in Winhill."

"First of all, that was because back then I was pretty much on the run from, well, everyone. Waking up early was a means to protect my neck. Other than that, I wasn't exactly going to sleep well through the night with how much you squirm in your sleep."

"Why don't you say that louder, Seifer. I don't think everyone in Garden heard you," Nida sighed, shaking his head. "Squall honestly told me to get you to help me. If there was malicious intent, it was his."

"You didn't have to follow the order."

"You didn't have to let me go into my pre-meeting meeting with Squall this morning so unprepared for what he was going to do," Nida countered, as they finally entered the elevator. The journal was slipped away into his pocket and Nida took a step forward to hit the proper button on the elevator and press his palm against the scanner to verify his right to descend to the lower level.

"I had orders," Seifer protested, then sighed. Apparently he got the point.

"Exactly. Though, honestly, you're less of one for following them than I am, so I guess I have a better excuse."

"You're impossible," Seifer mumbled, shaking his head. "Just want you to know that."

"You're the one who has apparently pissed Squall off somehow," Nida pointed out, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. "Way to go on that."

"We're not seeing eye to eye," Seifer admitted, shaking his head and still working on balancing the tray of coffees and his own breakfast. "Nothing new there."

No, nothing new at all. Everything else seemed to be changing around them, but Seifer and Squall kept the same. Or close enough to it that it was hard to tell the difference.

"Are we ready for this?" Nida found himself asking Seifer as the elevator came to a stop.

"For what?"

"What comes next."

Seifer sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, I've got no idea. What Squall's planning... Even if we get the agreements we need, it's going to be hard to handle the people we're told to deal with. You've got to deal with conflicting interests, people who used to be at war, people who won't think you're fit to command..."

"Sounds like you've had experience with that," Nida said, only to instantly realize that Seifer likely had. He'd been the commander of Galbadian forces during the Sorceress war. Sure, he'd still had higher level military leaders to work with, but he'd been for all intents and purposes the supreme commander under the possessed Edea. No one would know better than him what it would be like to lead a force of the size they were talking about. Part of the reason he was being sent with Zell as likely as not. The ground forces would be the largest, that most difficult to handle. There would be a lot of problems that would arise with such a force. A joint air force would be easier to handle simply because it would be smaller.

"We can do this, right?"

Seifer shrugged and strode forward as the elevator door opened. "You're the prophet. Or one of them. You tell me."