The streets had erupted into all-out pandemonium; soldiers and riot police were trying to restrain a crowd that had suddenly been thrown into a frenzy, and Quistis thought she heard gunshots ringing out in the distance. It hadn't taken long for her to figure out that they should make themselves as hidden as possible.

She slid the manhole cover back into place above her before descending the ladder into the Deling City sewers. Rinoa and Irvine were already waiting at the base, though Irvine was shaking and appeared to be in the midst of a nervous breakdown.

"S...she's dead," he said to no one in particular. "I shot...my bullet killed her. How could I...?"

"Irvine, it's all right," Quistis said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He didn't seem to notice at all. "You did your duty." She felt the sick feeling that had been tugging at her own gut ever since she had seen the Sorceress fall, and suppressed it. "We have to find our way to the edge of town. Hopefully these sewers will lead us to another outlet." She picked a direction at random and did her best to sound authoritative. "This way."

The sewers were arranged in a maze-like pattern that Quistis worried she was getting lost in; after several minutes of right-angle turns, she had only modest confidence that they weren't being led in circles. When she heard footsteps coming from ahead of them, she half-worried they were Galbadians sent to pursue them, and she had been turned around completely.

"Who's there?" she called.

There was a second's pause. "Hello?" asked Nida's voice.

The two groups were reunited seconds later. "Thank goodness you're alright," said Quistis upon seeing Zell and Selphie. "...Could you confirm the kill? Is the Sorceress...?"

"We saw her go down," Nida said. "We couldn't get close, though."

"Yeah," said Zell, looking dazed. "The soldiers were taking her away, but this huge riot broke out. Oh—they took Seifer too."

"Seifer?" Rinoa exclaimed. "Was he okay?" Zell shook his head; she sank to her knees, arms crossed protectively over her chest. "Oh, no..."

"We need to get in contact with Garden," said Quistis. "Report the situation."

"I dunno," said Nida. "This'll probably make the news."

Quistis frowned. "Do you have something else in mind?"

Nida winced, looking unsure whether he ought to be speaking. "...Sort of."

- - - — - - -

Where am I...?

Apart from the pain, Seifer first became aware of the voices; they seemed distant, muffled so he couldn't hear them. Next was a dripping noise, coming from somewhere nearby. Then, he realized his hands were cuffed and secured above his head.

Opening his eyes, he saw a dank stone room with a single iron door and a naked light bulb providing illumination. There were four sets of cuffs hanging from the ceiling, and he hung from one of them. He looked down at his side; his wound was still there, but appeared to have been partially healed with a Cure spell. It still hurt like hell, but at least he wouldn't be dying from that.

The voices stopped just outside the door, which groaned open. A Galbadian soldier stepped into the room, accompanied by Squall. The soldier stood by the door, while Squall slowly walked up to Seifer. Squall's expression, Seifer saw, looked harsher than anything he had seen on the other boy before, suggesting a particularly potent form of rage.

"...What's up, Squall?" he croaked.

Squall punched him in the gut, sending a sharp wave of pain from his wound. "...Aah!" Seifer protested, shaking at his bonds, glaring at Squall. The wound across his nose was throbbing again, too. "Let me go and try that again!"

"That was your plan, wasn't it?" asked Squall. "You distract me, while SeeD kills the Sorceress from afar?"

"At the risk of flattering your ego, Squall, what happened was between you and me," Seifer said. "I dunno what Garden had planned for the Sorceress, and I don't care."

Squall just kept glaring at him. "How many others were there?" he asked. "One? Two? We know about the sniper from G-Garden. And there's nowhere for the others to go. Don't waste time trying to be noble."

Seifer snorted. The action produced a jab of pain from his facial wound, and he winced, which also hurt. "...You know what, Squall?" he said, leaning forward as best he could given his constraints. "You're really bad at this."

Squall's hand shot up to Seifer's throat. Seifer gagged, and tried to shake his neck free from Squall's vise-like grip. Squall's face was so tense with rage that Seifer thought the cut across his own nose might start bleeding again, though it was tough to see clearly with the spots popping up in front of his eyes.

"Is this your dream, Seifer?" Squall demanded. "Moments like this? Would you enjoy causing pain to the Sorceress' enemies? Is that the sort of thing you strive for?"

Seifer, who couldn't have responded if he had wanted to, simply glared at Squall and gurgled a bit.

"Commander Squall?" The voice came from a blurry silhouette who was standing in the doorway.

Squall threw Seifer backwards; Seifer banged against the wall and swung from the cuffs, coughing and struggling to catch his breath, to say nothing of his composure. Then Squall turned to the silhouette, which Seifer managed to resolve into the form of another Galbadian soldier. "What is it?"

"You wanted to be informed of the timetable," said the soldier. "The missile base projects launch readiness in another 12 hours."

"That's too long," said Squall.

"It's the best they can do, sir," said the soldier. "Also, they confirmed they can only target one Garden at a time."

"Understood." The soldier saluted, and left; Squall turned back to Seifer.

"You're gonna destroy the Gardens," said Seifer, trying hard not to croak out the words.

"I don't have a choice," said Squall. "They made themselves Edea's enemies."

"Attacking from afar." Seifer snorted. "You could at least have the courage to betray them face-to-face."

Squall took a step forward, eyes smoldering. "Say what you want, Seifer. You've failed. Failed at everything."

Seifer drew himself into the haughtiest pose he could manage, glaring down at Squall and trying not to break into a coughing fit. Squall didn't look impressed.

"The Sorceress will recover," Squall said. "And she'll go on. You can't stop her — and you can't have her." With that, he turned to the other soldier, who was still standing by the door. "We'll move him to the 'Desert Prison,' and continue the interrogation there." The soldier left, and Squall started for the exit as well.

"Giving up already?" Seifer called. "I didn't think you really had it in you."

Squall paused at the door, and turned back around. The light was horrible, so Seifer couldn't see more than a hint of his face. "We're just getting started, Seifer," he said. "But right now, you're not worth my time."

And he left, closing the door behind him.

-

"You two will accompany the prisoner in the 'transport vehicle,'" said the colonel in charge of security for Deling City. "If he's any trouble, subdue him."

"Yeah, yeah." Captain Biggs saluted sharply, and the colonel turned and left. "...Jackass. Who does he think he is, anyway? Like I've never dealt with a prisoner before?"

"He might just be concerned," ventured the other soldier. "This prisoner did attack the Sorceress."

"Don't give me that, Wedge!" Biggs snapped. "We did our country proud in Dollet, fixin' that transmitter! Hell, we didn't even need to use the prototype Black Widow! An' how do we get repaid? We're demoted, and now we're put on prison duty! Prison duty, Wedge! It's an insult!"

"Uh, sir —"

"Don't interrupt me, Wedge! Now, if you ask me, Galbadia owes us one! Especially these tight-ass glorified security guards who wouldn't know combat if it came up and socked 'em one, you know what I mean?" He gestured out at the city, roads still littered with debris and smoke still rising from recently extinguished fires, signs of the previous night's rioting. "Like last night — they couldn't even keep a bunch of civilians under control!"

"Sir, he's —"

"These guys wouldn't last 10 seconds in the real heat of battle!" said Biggs. "But that's not us, Wedge! We've been there! We survived! And we're gonna make them respect that! I tell you, inside of a month, we'll be running that prison! An' then we'll see what that condescending son of a —"

"Ahem."

Biggs spun around to see that the colonel had returned, and was glaring at him. "Gaah!" he said, jumping to attention.

"The prisoner's coming out now," said the colonel. "Be ready to depart." He glared at Biggs a moment longer before departing.

"...We sure showed him, didn't we, sir?" asked Wedge.

"Shut up, Wedge!" Biggs snapped.

Two more soldiers appeared, escorting the prisoner. Biggs barely paid attention; it was insulting for an officer to be relegated to baby-sitting prisoner transfers, and one of Biggs' stature could just as easily do it in his sleep.

Then he noticed the identity of the prisoner in question.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!" said Biggs, Wedge and Seifer in unison.

Biggs recovered first. "S-so we meet again! I knew it was just a matter of time before we put your meddling to an end!"

"Aw, man," said Seifer. "Do I have to be stuck with these guys the whole time?" he called towards the colonel.

"You shut your mouth!" Biggs shouted.

"Should we get him onto the truck and move out, sir?" asked Wedge.

"Not now, Wedge!" snapped Biggs. He pointed to Seifer. "You! Get onto the truck! We're moving out!"

—

Caraway hadn't slept at all that night. He'd seen the monsters attack Rinoa on TV, and the fact that no bodies had been found did not go far to reassure him. Moreover, he couldn't get clear information about the assassination attempt; as the night had gone on, the soldiers had told him less and less; he could feel himself being cut out of the loop, with Edea's knight usurping his role and taking charge of the military. But the fact that he could do this at all, let alone so quickly, told Caraway all he needed to know about how the operation had fared.

The one night in his life he hadn't played matters by the book, and he might have lost everything he'd had left.

At the moment, he was in his study, looking out the window. Soldiers were still out on the streets and a curfew was in effect; the city had the look of a place under occupation. Caraway didn't know how long this would go on for; that was another decision from which he had been excluded.

The door opened to admit the head of his personal guard. "There's still no news concerning your daughter, General," he said.

Caraway didn't look at the man. "Would I be informed if there was?"

His guard hesitated. "...Commander Leonhart is here to see you," he said finally.

Caraway frowned. It would be very nice to get some answers from the boy, but he doubted that was the purpose of his visit. "Very well. Show him in."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Squall enter, flanked by a pair of Galbadian Elite Soldiers stepped into the room. He turned to face them.

"General...," said one of the soldiers; then he hesitated and glanced at Squall. "Sir, I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."

"May I ask why?" he asked. Squall folded his arms, but didn't speak.

"We have orders," said the soldier. "A direct command to be executed on Sorceress Edea's behalf."

"Then the Sorceress is alive," said Caraway. "Why was I not informed of this sooner?"

Squall shook his head, looking frustrated. "Hurry it up," he said to the soldiers.

The first soldier winced. "...General Caraway, you are under arrest for complicity in the attempt on Sorceress Edea's life," said the soldier. "You are to be jailed immediately. Please don't resist."

Caraway had been fully aware of this as a possible outcome if the plan were to fail. Still, with him out of the picture and the Sorceress alive, he feared the rest of the military would not attempt any further resistance to her will. Things were now even worse than before. And all his actions had been for nothing.

"Very well," he said, sighing. "I suppose we should go, then."

—

Altogether, four soldiers joined Seifer in the transport vehicle's rear compartment, and they had been on the road for several minutes. Its horizontal slit of a rear window was shuttered, leaving him no way to see where the craft was going, or whether it was alone or part of a convoy, or anything else that might be useful. Breaking out would have been tricky anyway, even though he still had his GF; his gunblade was nowhere to be seen, and restraints were quite secure, and there appeared to be a low-level anti-magic field in the car.

"You guys don't think the Sorceress'll just let you live your happy, normal lives, do you?" he asked. "Don't you know anything about what they do?"

"That's enough outta you!" said Biggs. "You think you can incite my men? We're trained professionals, you little twerp!"

"Sir, what if he's right?" whispered Wedge. "You know all those things they said about Adel..."

"Don't you start, Wedge!" Biggs snapped. "Edea's our leader, and that's that! The next time I hear someone try to incite an insurrection in here, I'll —" He was cut off as the vehicle lurched. "What the hell was THAT!"

The transport lurched again, as if the driver was swerving on the road and barely in control. Then there was a loud grinding noise, and Seifer felt the reverberation of an impact; the swerving became more pronounced, and the car began to shake to boot. Then it started spinning, coming to rest on its side after two or three revolutions had sent the soldiers and Seifer into an ignoble pile on the wall.

Seifer's first instinct was to grab for the key to his handcuffs, which hung from Biggs' belt. Biggs, who was still mostly conscious, put up a fight, though he was somewhat handicapped the way his head was pinned between Wedge's back and another soldier's leg. Though Seifer didn't manage to wrest the key free, he did manage to insert it into his handcuffs, releasing them.

Not long after he did, something hard slammed into the back door, and then did so again. Seifer scooted his head away just in time for the door to go flying open, letting the pleasant country light stream in.

"Yeah, he's here," said Zell's voice, as his silhouette stared in at him from the doorway.

"Seifer?" asked Quistis' voice.

"Just a second," said Seifer, who was now trying to find the key to free his ankles.

"We probably shouldn't stay here long," said the voice of that other SeeD whom Seifer didn't know.

"Just a second!" Seifer repeated. "...ah!" The cuffs around his ankles snapped open, and Seifer crawled out of the vehicle, which appeared to have come to a rest in the ditch alongside the highway. "Later, guys!" he said to the mostly unconscious soldiers.

"You won't get away with this!" shouted Biggs' muffled voice, as the soldier tried to pry himself out from under Wedge. "I'll see to it you're —" He was cut off when Seifer slammed the door shut on him.

"So what took you so long?" asked Seifer.

"Don't even start, Seifer," Quistis said harshly. She pointed to a Galbadian military vehicle that, along with a stylish-looking fastback sedan, was now parked alongside the road. "Get in the truck."

"No, hey, wait!" Seifer said. "...We've got a problem." Quistis raised his eyebrows in a 'no kidding' gesture. "— One you don't know about." He sighed. "...Garden's in trouble."