Everyone was speechless for a moment as Seifer's news sunk in. There were cars driving by on the road, and Nida could think of plenty of reasons why staying where they were was a really bad idea, but this wasn't foremost in his mind either.

Irvine was shaking his head. "...Alive," he said. "She...I..."

Then he started laughing, catching everyone by surprise.

"The hell's so damn funny?" demanded Seifer. "She's gonna blow up Garden, did you hear that part?" Irvine didn't even seem to hear him. "Hey!" Seifer snapped, grabbing his coat.

"—Watch it, man!" Irvine shoved Seifer away.

"Everyone, stop it!" snapped Quistis, before the situation could deteriorate even further. "...Seifer's right. We have to deal with this."

"They're targeting both Balamb and Trabia Gardens?" asked Selphie. "Well, we have to interfere with the launch! We have to stop the missiles!"

"How do we do that?" asked Nida. "Shouldn't we try to get in touch with Garden, and warn them?"

"The hell's Garden gonna do?" asked Seifer. "They couldn't get here in time!"

"What about Galbadia Garden?" asked Nida.

"It's already been taken over," said Seifer. "That's how I got outta there."

Nida hadn't thought of that. "...Well, we could at least warn the Gardens to evacuate or something. You said we had about 12 hours left, right?"

"What if that's not enough time?" asked Selphie. "I just transferred from Trabia Garden! I can't just sit around knowing that Trabia Garden is in danger!" She turned to Quistis. "C'mon, please! Let's go to the Galbadia Missile Base, before it's too late!"

"Why don't we split into teams?" asked Rinoa. "There's 7 of us... that's enough to make 3 teams, right? We could warn Balamb and Trabia Gardens, and stop the missiles!" She looked around. "Let's take a vote. Anyone against the plan, please raise your right hand."

...It doesn't work like that, Nida thought. Although she did have a point. Except he still had no idea how they were supposed to stop a Galbadian missile launch, especially if they divided their forces.

Quistis, for her part, looked almost sick. Closing her eyes, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, and took a deep breath before responding.

"...All right," she said. "Selphie, head for Dollet; see if you can't find a way to Trabia Garden. Irvine, you go with her. Zell, take Rinoa and go back to warn Balamb Garden. You four take the car; Nida and I will see if we can stop the missiles."

Nida blinked. Seifer cleared his throat; Quistis frowned at him.

"Are you with us, Seifer?" she asked. "You know the stakes. I need to know you won't cause any trouble."

Seifer rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, Instructor, I don't wanna see Garden get blown up."

"Good," said Quistis. "Go with Zell back to Balamb."

"What!" Seifer and Zell both exclaimed.

"That's my decision," said Quistis sharply. Seifer grimaced. Sighing, she nodded to Irvine.

"Hey, man." Irvine produced Seifer's gunblade from under his jacket. "You dropped this."

Seifer took the weapon, and took a few experimental swings before holstering it.

"We have to move quickly," said Quistis. "Zell, we'll drop your team off at the rail outlet in the desert region; you should be able to make it to Balamb from there. Selphie, good luck. And, I'll see you all back at Balamb."

- - - — - - -

Quistis parked the vehicle behind a rickety shack-like structure that was probably still the most solidly built building for several miles around. There were a couple Galbadian soldiers minding the platform, but they were some distance away. In the distance, they could just see the approaching train that was scheduled to leave in a few minutes' time.

"Look, Instructor," Seifer said as they got out of the car. "We both know I could be an asset on this mission. Don't send me away just because you don't like my guts."

"I'm sending you away because I don't trust you, Seifer," Quistis said. "You've demonstrated time and again that you can't work with a team. And there's very little margin for error in what we're about to do."

"I can get the job done!" said Seifer. "Haven't I proven that enough? And I know what the stakes are here!" Then he lowered his voice, and his tone became about as serious as Quistis had ever heard it. "Please, Quistis. Let me help."

Quistis stared at him for a moment. She knew it was just asking for disaster, and that Seifer couldn't be relied on; she expected he'd run off well before he reached Balamb and whatever disciplinary action awaited him there. But, they were going into uncharted territory; and Seifer had proven himself a capable fighter. And there was just enough of a difference in his attitude now to give her pause.

"Don't make me regret this," she said.

"Wait, what?" asked Nida.

"Hey, you're not actually —" Zell started.

"Seifer will come with us to the missile base," said Quistis. The train had just arrived at the station, and the soldiers were now off supervising its unloading. "You'd better get going, Zell."

Zell shook his head, but started off stealthily towards the train.

"Hey, Rinoa," Seifer said, pulling her aside. "Look, about before. I..." He shook his head.

"Seifer, it's okay," she said, raising a hand to his cheek. "I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me on purpose."

"Yeah, well." Seifer shuffled uncomfortably. "Just...be safe, okay?"

"Hey," said Rinoa. "I've got SeeD to protect me." Seifer glowered, and Rinoa changed the subject. "...sure beats last summer, doesn't it?"

"I dunno," said Seifer, faux-casually. "That wasn't too bad."

Rinoa giggled, but her expression soon turned more solemn. "...Seifer," she began. "...There's some things I wanna know."

"Hey!" said Zell. "Let's go! We've gotta uncouple the engine while these guys aren't looking!"

"...We'll talk when you get back to Garden," Rinoa decided. "Good luck saving everybody." Then she turned and headed off with Zell.

"Let's get going," said Quistis.

Seifer and the two remaining SeeDs piled back into the transport, and headed back for the road. As they drove off, Nida saw in the rear-view mirror that the engine was pulling away down the tracks, with the conductor and a Galbadian soldier trailing after it.

"...Seifer," Quistis said. "What happened at Galbadia Garden?"

Seifer shrugged. "There was a fight," he said, "but it was over pretty quick. The Galbadians had brought a whole army there. I heard the headmaster sayin' he'd surrender if they promised not to harm the students."

"Did they?" asked Nida.

"Looked like everyone just got kicked out," said Seifer. "But I dunno. I was more focused on gettin' out of there."

"I'm surprised you didn't try to take them all on yourself," Quistis said, half-jokingly.

"Figured I'd start with the Sorceress and work my way down," said Seifer.

Then the tone of the engine changed, and the truck started to slow down. "...Huh?" asked Nida, who was driving. He tried pushing the pedal harder, with no effect; the speedometer kept ticking down to around 20 kilometers per hour, where it held.

"It feels like the fuel cell's been depleted," said Quistis, looking around the back of the vehicle. "Seifer, do you see an extra one?"

"No way," said Nida, tapping the fuel gauge, which registered the cell as being more than halfway charged. "The meter says..." He blinked, as the needle fell off the gauge while he was tapping it. "...Never mind. The meter's broken."

"There's nothing else back here," said Quistis. "...We'll have to cruise on reserves."

"Well," said Seifer. "I love how this mission is going."

- - - — - - -

Selphie and Irvine shot past yet another Galbadian transport vehicle as their car approached the Dollet city limits. "There's sure a lot of those things on the road lately," Selphie observed. "I thought the Galbadians pulled out of Dollet?"

"...Looks like they're setting up roadblocks," said Irvine, who had been staring out the passenger's-side window for the duration of the trip with the same blank expression he'd had all day.

"That's just mean!" said Selphie. "Why don't they want people driving around?"

Irvine shrugged.

"...Heey, Irvine?" Selphie asked, looking over at him. "Are you okay? You've been acting kinda different ever since the parade."

"...," Irvine said.

"It's not your fault the Sorceress survived, you know," Selphie said. "I'm sure you did the best you could."

Irvine shook his head, but didn't answer.

Selphie switched gears. "...I can't believe they're just gonna blow up Garden," she said. "I mean, there's a bunch of junior classmen there, who didn't do anything! It's just mean."

"...it's easy for them," said Irvine.

"?" asked Selphie.

"Guns made it a lot easier to kill people," said Irvine. "It probably started with the bow and arrow. Or throwing rocks. Anything that lets you kill from a distance. With missiles, it's even easier. All you have to do is push a button; you don't have to see any of the destruction you cause."

Selphie just stared at him.

"It's different with a sniper, though," Irvine said, his expression distant. "When you're looking through that scope, it's like you and your target are the only things in the world. And you're the one who decides if she lives or dies." A second later, his attention snapped back to the present. "...! Selphie, watch the road!"

Selphie did, yelped, and swerved hard to narrowly avoid driving straight off the shoulder and into the sign reading, WELCOME TO DOLLET — at well above the posted speed limit, to boot. "...Heey, are those the docks?" she asked, pointing to a cluster of ships and piers arranged ahead of them. "That's convenient!"

"That's them," Irvine confirmed.

Selphie parked the car in what at least looked like a legal parking space next to the docks. "Okay," she said as she got out. "We want the fastest ship they've got. ...How about that one?" She pointed towards a sleek-looking speedboat.

"We'll probably need something bigger if we're going to cross the ocean with it," said Irvine.

"But bigger is slower, though," Selphie said.

"Maybe that one," said Irvine, pointing to a somewhat larger vessel with a double hull. "That looks like a hydrofoil. They're pretty fast."

"Okay!" said Selphie. "C'mon, we've gotta hurry!"

"Hey, hey, woah!" said Irvine. "You think we can just hop on and sail away? Do you even know how to run a boat?"

"Sure!" said Selphie. "It was part of my SeeD training! And every summer, we'd go sailing around Trabia!" She hopped onto the boat and over to its controls. "Uh...how do I turn it on?"

"Maybe there's a key somewhere," Irvine suggested. The two of them began to search the craft.

"HEY!" a man in overalls was approaching them with a suspicious look. "What're you doing on that vessel?"

"Relax, it's cool," said Irvine. "We're from Garden. We need it for a mission."

"The hell you do!" said the man. "I'm calling the cops!" He turned and ran away.

"Selphie, found anything yet?" Irvine asked.

"Key, key..." Selphie muttered. "If I was a key, where would I be...?" She was running out of places to look, and starting to check places she'd already looked in before. It was while peering into a compartment filled with CDs near the ship's stern that she noticed something. "...Heey, this guy listens to the 'Blue Moombas'!" she said. "I love them! ...And he's got their newest album, too!" She began rifling through the collection to see what else was in there.

"Uh, Selphie?" Irvine asked. "Shouldn't we focus on —"

"!" Selphie triumphantly produced a key that had been hidden under the CDs. "Found it!"

Irvine released the ship's tether to the dock as Selphie ran back to the controls. He was just pushing them off when a pair of Dollet soldiers came running up. "Step out of the vessel now!" one said, as they leveled their weapons at Selphie and Irvine.

"Look, we really need this ship, okay?" Irvine asked. "Like, we'll bring it back."

"Whoo-hoo!" said Selphie, as the ship's engine grumbled to life. "It's started!"

"Stop!" demanded the soldier.

"Sorry about this," Irvine said. Drawing his shotgun, he fired a blast over their heads. The soldiers dove for cover. "We'd better get outta here, Selphie!"

"Right on!" The boat was indeed turning slowly out to sea. "C'mon, turn faster!"

The soldiers were now firing back at Irvine, who was laying down cover fire as best he could. "Anytime now!"

Selphie heard another siren coming from somewhere out at sea; looking for the source, she saw a police boat bearing down on them. "Uh-oh," she said, trying to twist the steering wheel further. The vessel was still oriented so that she couldn't floor the throttle without driving it straight into the pier. "This is gonna be close!"

"Uhh..." Irvine said, raising a hand to his forehead. "...Wha?" Dropping his shotgun, he collapsed to the deck.

"Irvine!" asked Selphie. "Were you hit? Are you okay?"

"Shut down your engine and surrender!" demanded a voice from the police boat, which moved in to block the route out to sea. The two Dollet soldiers had emerged from their cover as well, and were running up to the edge of the pier, where they had a clear shot.

Selphie gulped. "Oh, no..."