Chapter 26

I Say We Fight

(Irvine)

"Irvy," Selphie said, as she stepped into the engine room and stood beside him. He turned and looked at her.

"Hm? What's up?" he asked. He had one hand resting on the accelerator for the train, the other gently working out a kink in his neck.

"Nuthin'," Selphie said. "Everyone's asleep and I felt kinda weird just sitting there alone, so I came up here. 'Sup with you?"

"Both jack and squat," Irvine said. "Anyway, we'll be coming up on FH pretty soon."

To prove this statement, he tapped the monitor on the control panel that showed their route and relative position. With no landmarks around them in the empty blue ocean, the monitor displayed only the thin blue line of the train tracks, along with a large dot that showed their current position. Further to the East was another dot, which Irvine assumed to be Fisherman's Horizon.

(Ain't like there's anything else it could be.)

Selphie peered inquisitively at the controls and the monitors, acting like she was discovering things for the first time, even though Irvine was fairly certain that she knew more about trains than he did. Irvine yawned and stretched, eagerly looking forward to the end of the trip.

Earlier that day, when they were still skirting around the northern edge of Timber, everyone had been too keyed up to relax. Since they were so close to Timber—only minutes away from the bulk of the G-Army—it was all too possible that they would run into a patrol or a checkpoint. The fact that they were driving a military train might have allowed them to avoid suspicion, but Irvine wasn't willing to bet on it. He'd been tense and jittery the whole time, staring out the windows in all directions, looking for patrols and guards.

Luckily though, they made it around Timber without any trouble. They didn't even see any other trains or vehicles. Once they were past the city and heading safely towards the ocean, everyone began to settle down. Selphie—of course—tried to rope a few SeeDs into playing various games with her, but most had chosen to make pillows out of their shirts and fall asleep.

Irvine stared ahead at the empty scenery. The train chugged and click-clacked its way down the Horizon Bridge—a two-track-wide structure that spanned the entire distance between the continents of Galbadia and Esthar. The trip so far had been the definition of monotony. No scenery, no breaks, no turns in the tracks. Nothing but the bridge and the ocean stretching endlessly on all sides.

(At least in FH there'll be something to look at.)

He glanced down at the monitor and saw that the dot that indicated their location and the dot that showed FH were now almost touching each other in the middle of the screen.

"Just about there," Irvine said. He looked up and watched for signs of the approaching city. After a few minutes, he could see a grayish mass forming in the distance. As they got closer, the mass took on more refined features. Irvine could discern a network of bare metal bridges and a myriad of fishing docks extending in all directions. At the center of all those bridges and docks was a tangle of discarded steel hammered and welded into something resembling an iron island, forming the central heart of the city where the population of FH lived and worked.

Hanging from the northern side of the Horizon Bridge like a big, shiny blueberry was the iconic solar panels of FH, built in the remnants of what used to be a sports stadium. Where the seats had once been, now sat thousands of bright blue solar panels arranged in overlapping rows. There were more than enough to provide power for all the residents of FH. At the center of that stadium—where midfield would be, if the stadium were still used for its original purpose—was the mayor's house. Irvine couldn't see any of this just yet, but he could still picture it vividly enough.

Undoubtedly, the mayor would want to know why ten SeeDs were showing up unannounced into his staunchly anti-war city, so Irvine made a mental note to visit him at his house as soon as they arrived.

(He ain't gonna be glad to see us.)

Outside the city, the bridge widened from two tracks into four tracks. The two outermost tracks then split off from the main route and descended down ramps to another area hidden underneath. There, suspended below the bridge, was either a parking lot for trains, or a graveyard for trains—Irvine couldn't tell. All he could see was a wide platform loaded with parked trains from every country and era, lined up in neat rows. Because the platform was beneath the bridge, he could only glimpse either side of it.

Irvine began throttling back on the engine to bring the train down to a safer speed. He was glad he did so, as moments after the train began to slow, he spotted a row of civilians forming a human barricade across the bridge. They were unarmed, as residents of FH always were, and had their hands clasped calmly in front of their stomachs, waiting for the train to arrive.

"Selphie, check this out," Irvine said. He eased up even more on the throttle.

"What's up?" Selphie asked. She looked up from whatever device on the control panel currently held her attention. Irvine pointed her to the row of civilians blocking their path. "Oh," she said. "They're probably the welcoming committee."

"Ah, I wouldn't be so optimistic," Irvine said. He grimaced.

The brakes squealed as he pulled back harder on the throttle. The train then coasted to a gentle stop shortly before the human barricade. Irvine and Selphie popped open the side door to the engine room and leapt out onto the tracks, leaving their weapons inside. The smell of salt air, rust, and motor oil filled Irvine's lungs. Heat billowed from the bottom of the train as the engine cooled. Habitually, he adjusted his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his ponytail. He winced when his hand came back greasy. He hadn't had access to a mirror or a shower in quite a while.

(Oh well.)

The pair approached the citizens of Fisherman's Horizon. Now that he was closer, Irvine counted that there were about fifteen or so. They were plain, unassuming people who wore old hand-me-down clothes, probably scavenged from some wreckage or bought years ago. They didn't wear jewelry or dye their hair. They were all covered in patches of grease, as if they'd been interrupted in the middle of disassembling an engine by hand.

"Howdy," Irvine said, tipping his hat.

"Hiya!" Selphie said, waving excitedly with one hand.

One of the citizens—a tall man with broad shoulders and the thick, leathery skin of a person who'd spent all his life in the sun—approached them. He nodded in a friendly, but stern way and said, "Hello. I'm sorry, but we must ask that you turn around now."

(Figures.)

"'Fraid we can't do that," Irvine said, trying to be as polite as possible without backing down. "We got a whole mess of Galbadians behind us who 'd be none too happy to see us."

The man appeared confused. He narrowed his eyes, looked at the train, then at the SeeDs. "Aren't you Galbadians?"

"Nope," Selphie said. "We're SeeDs. We're just borrowing a Galbadian train."

The man nodded. "Ah," he said. "SeeDs. I sympathize with your plight and I do not wish you to come to any harm, but I still must insist that you leave immediately. Especially if you are having problems with the Galbadians."

(Ugh, not this crap again…)

Last time SeeD visited Fisherman's Horizon had been shortly after Garden became mobile. At the time, Irvine and Selphie had been busy escaping from an explosion in the Galbadian Missile Base, but they'd heard the story of SeeD's first encounter with FH from Squall and the others.

According to the story, Garden had gone out of control and crashed violently into FH, trashing a number of fishing docks. The people of the town were willing to help repair Garden and, graciously, did not hold SeeD responsible for the damages to the city. But although they bore the students no animosity, they had been more than eager to get rid of Garden, the way one might want to get rid of a nasty cold. Irvine and Selphie had shown up at the tail end of Garden's stay, but had lingered long enough to feel the uninvited air that the citizens emitted towards SeeDs. They had never felt truly welcome during their time in FH, even though the citizens were never anything less than kind and hospitable. Apparently, the people of FH disagreed with SeeD's mercenary work or something to that effect. Irvine had never bothered to learn the particulars.

"Look," Irvine said with a sigh, "I know y'all don't like us. And y'all don't like what we do. But believe me, we're here to avoid a fight, not start one. If you send us away, people are gonna die. But if you let us in, then maybe we can stop that from happening."

The man's expression did not change. He appeared firm and resolute, without looking cold and heartless. "I am truly sorry," he said. He bowed slightly. "But we do not see much of a difference between SeeD and Galbadia. Neither of your two groups truly work towards peace. Helping you now may stave off violence for a day, but you will survive only to cause other deaths at some later time. You carry violence in your hearts and minds wherever you go, and we cannot allow you to spread it here. Again, I am truly sorry."

(He's kinda got a point, I guess.)

But whether or not the man had a point was irrelevant to Irvine. A significant portion of the G-Army was at their backs, crawling all over the continent. Sooner or later they would notice that their prisoner transport train hadn't arrived at D-District as scheduled and the army would come calling for them, if they hadn't begun the search already. There was absolutely no way they could turn around and go back now. Regardless of FH's opinions about SeeD, Galbadia, and violence in general, Irvine and Selphie needed to get in.

(Gotta talk my way in, I guess…)

"Well what's wrong with helping us?" Selphie said indignantly. She stomped her foot on the train track. "What's wrong with helping people? Just cause we're SeeDs means you can't have anything to do with us? Ain't that hypocritical?"

Irvine thought about it for a moment, and then raised his eyebrows in surprise. Whether or not she realized it, Selphie had just caught them in a moral bind. If the people of FH really stood up for kindness, community, and helping their fellow man, than it shouldn't matter if that particular man wore a uniform or not. Refusing to help people went against their principles.

(Nice move, Selph.)

The man frowned, unable to talk his way past that point. Yet Irvine could see the wheels turning behind the man's eyes as he fought for the words that would turn the train away. It was clear he wanted no business with SeeD, no matter what clever arguments were put before him.

But before he could say anything, a middle-aged woman with a long blond ponytail approached the man and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We should send them to the mayor," she said softly to the man. "He'll know what to do."

The man sighed and nodded. "Yes. We can do that." He turned to the SeeDs. "Leave your weapons aboard the train and go see the mayor. You know where his house is?"

Irvine nodded. "Yeah, we've been here before."

"Please be quick about it," the man said, stepping aside so the two could pass. "Your presence here invites trouble."

"Nice talkin' to you too," Irvine said, with a mockingly polite tip of his hat. He moved past the man and walked further down the tracks and towards the city. Selphie followed for a few steps, then paused.

"Are we gonna bring the others?" she asked, gesturing towards the train.

"Nah," Irvine said. "Let 'em sleep for now. We'll be back soon."

"'Kay," Selphie said, jogging to catch back up with Irvine.

The human barricade broke apart, and the citizens of FH went back underneath the bridge to the train graveyard Irvine had seen earlier. As he walked, he craned his neck and looked over the edge of the bridge, watching the people as they pulled out little bits and pieces from the abandoned trains and eyed them like they were precious gems. The pieces that were in good condition were tossed into labeled boxes while the bad pieces were put into cloth sacks.

(I suppose that's how they get all their spare parts.)

Irvine paused and offered his arm to Selphie.

"Mi'lady?" he said with a grin.

"Tee hee," Selphie said, then snatched his arm in a vice-like, very unladylike grip. Irvine grunted, but didn't say anything aloud as he escorted Selphie into town.

(She's a lot stronger than she looks.)

Fisherman's Horizon was one of the few cities in the world that didn't have a perimeter wall to keep out monsters. Since it was located in the middle of the ocean, the sea itself formed a natural barricade. Although the Horizon Bridge theoretically allowed monsters from both continents to find their way to FH, for some reason monsters almost never made it that far. Perhaps the journey across the bridge was too long for the monsters to bother making the attempt.

(Or too boring.)

The bridge widened to become several train tracks in width as they entered the city. Everything in FH was salvaged from somewhere else and nothing went to waste. As such, the city was a mosaic formed from the castoffs of every other major nation, giving the town an ambience that was both totally unique and vaguely familiar, as the individual parts could be recognized, but the whole was something entirely new.

The citizens were—nearly every last one—handy with tools and construction work, so the buildings were not the kind of ugly, unstable shacks commonly formed by refugees and the homeless, but instead appeared quite sturdy and had a certain quaint charm to them. Irvine himself wouldn't have cared to live in FH, but he was not repulsed by the appearance of the town either.

Every now and then staircases descended down to floating platforms in the ocean. Those platforms served to extend the city further outward in all directions, so that the city's growth was not restrained by the limits of the bridge. A few tall towers—perhaps old oil or grain silos—also formed convenient bases where the citizens of FH continued their expansion from the city center. Walkways made of rusty sheet metal, pipes, and guy wires connected these towers. Some of the more commonly traveled routes had elevators installed to raise people up and down between levels. The rest had to use ladders to get around.

They walked past a few commercial buildings. A couple of them had hand-painted signs out front advertising them as grocery stores, apothecaries, or various specialty shops. A few vendors in town were willing to service broken weapons, but no one in town made or sold weaponry themselves. The metal from swords and bullets and axes was usually melted down into pipes, grating, and other more practical materials.

They passed a few people roaming about town, but most everybody was either in their houses or out at one of the many, many fishing docks, casting lines out into the sea to catch their dinners, or out in fishing boats, cruising the waves for larger game. No one seemed openly hostile to the pair of SeeDs, but Irvine got a distinct feeling of otherness when he passed the denizens of FH, as if there was an intrinsic quality in their being—some kind of aura—that made Irvine and Selphie visibly different from everyone else in town.

(Well, she and I have seen real battles. They never have.)

(That's bound to change a person, I suppose.)

Irvine spared a thought, wondering what would be different about him if he'd been adopted by people from FH, rather than the rich parents from Galbadia who had ended up with him. Would he have still run away and joined G-Garden? Or would he be a happy pacifist, wielding a pipe wrench instead of a shotgun, never knowing a thing about war or violence?

He wasn't much for hypotheticals, especially such abstract ones, so he pushed the thoughts out of his mind.

At about the midpoint of the city, they came across a long staircase that descended to the center of the stadium-turned-power-station. At the bottom, they could see a quaint little metal house on a giant sheet of gray-brown steel. A few trees grew around the house, though Irvine had trouble imagining how that was possible when there was nothing but metal and saltwater as far as the eye could see.

(Must be some engineering trick or something.)

Together they descended the steps.

"Everything here's all rusty," Selphie said, running her hand along the side railing. She pulled it back and looked at her fingertips, which were now stained dull orange.

"It's the seawater," Irvine said. "Speeds up the rusting process."

"Yeah, I went to school too, Irvy," Selphie said. "But thanks anyway."

"Er… okay," he said, embarrassed. "I thought you were askin' a question."

"Nope. Just sayin'," Selphie said. "Everything's rusty. Period, not question mark."

"Yeah… so it is," Irvine said. He cleared his throat.

They reached the bottom of the long stairs. Surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of solar panels, Irvine felt like he was in the bottom of a gigantic glass bowl. A few of the panels were angled just right to make the sun glare in his eyes, forcing him to squint as they walked across to the doorway of the mayor's house. They knocked, and promptly were admitted inside by a man's gentle voice.

The mayor's house was composed of two stories and shaped like a cylinder. The walls were lined with bookshelves and knick-knacks and a few tools for metalworking. A doorway leading to the back was closed, but presumably led into a bathroom or a bedroom. Seeing no one around, Irvine and Selphie went up the spiral staircase to the second floor.

The second floor was wide open, with numerous soft mats and pillows strewn about on the floor so that guests would have a place to sit. All around were various potted plants and more bookshelves, stuffed with titles from all over the world.

Mayor Dobe, a man on the border between "middle-aged" and "elderly," sat on a baby blue mat with his legs folded beneath him. He was thin, but wiry, his skin bronzed by the sun. His hair—what was left of it—was gray and wispy. He wore a floral print shirt and shorts. Beside him sat his wife, Flo, a much younger woman with a generous figure and voluminous blonde hair. She was too old for Irvine's tastes, but that didn't stop him from taking a moment to appreciate the view. Dobe and his wife looked up at the visitors and smiled warmly, but Irvine could see that they were smiling from practiced politeness rather than genuine happiness.

"Have a seat," Dobe said, sweeping a hand to gesture at the variety of pillows on the floor.

Selphie plopped down on an oversized yellow pillow, practically vanishing inside its fluffy mass. Irvine folded his legs under him and relaxed on a padded green mat, sitting in front of the mayor.

"And what business does Galbadia think it has with our town?" the mayor asked. His voice was soft, forcing Irvine to lean forward to hear what he said.

"We're not Galbadians," Irvine said. "We're just… uh… 'borrowing' one of their trains. And how'd you know we were comin'?"

"News travels fast here," Flo said. "We don't get many visitors, so it's always a big deal when someone shows up."

"Anyway, we're SeeDs!" Selphie said. "We fight the Galbadians!"

She mimed punching in the air.

"Is that distinction so important to you?" the mayor asked. He had the exhausted air of a man who has been arguing with children for hours and is tired of their foolishness. "What difference is it, if you're Galbadian or SeeD? You all look the same to me."

"Well, Galbadia's the bad guys!" Selphie said enthusiastically.

"Because they were born in the wrong country, that makes them evil?" the mayor asked. He raised his eyebrows as if he was genuinely confused.

(Ugh. I really don't wanna get sucked into a morality debate with this guy.)

But Selphie was more than willing to play ball, so she leaned forward on her big cushion and said, "Well… the G-Army's bad, anyway."

"All armies are bad," the mayor said, speaking wistfully.

Irvine sighed. It was kind of pointless, arguing with a man who was so completely set in his ways. But at the same time, Irvine never liked it when people disparaged him, his friends, and everything he'd been fighting for his whole life. He always liked to believe that he had an overall positive influence on the world. That he fought on the side of "the good guys."

And here the mayor was, basically dismissing Irvine and saying he was no different from the people he'd been fighting. It annoyed Irvine, enough to make him talk back.

"SeeD ain't bad," Irvine said. "We've done a lot of good in the world. Hell, we've saved the world before. And I'm not just talking SeeD in general, but she and I personally've done a lot of good. You can't convince me that we would have been better off without fighting. You just can't."

"Yeah!" Selphie added.

"But then here is my question," the mayor said. "Why did you do these good deeds? By virtue of the fact that you are SeeDs, then you do good?"

(Shoulda kept my mouth shut.)

(This was a mistake.)

The old man was not going to go down without a fight, and pride prevented Irvine from simply ending the conversation there. He sighed, took a breath, and continued the debate.

"We did it 'cause it was the right thing to do," Irvine said. "'Cause it needed to be done."

The mayor nodded. "And these Galbadians. Do they do evil because they are Galbadians?"

"They want power," Irvine said. "And money. And influence. And they're willing to kill to get it."

"All of them?" the mayor asked. "Every Galbadian is a murderer?"

"Well… no," Irvine said. He shook his head. "Some are okay. The civilians are usually alright."

"And are all SeeDs good?" the mayor asked.

Irvine was about to say that yes, all SeeDs were good, until he remembered Seifer. Seifer never technically made it into SeeD, but he had been in the system for many years, and had been a student at the school. The mere existence of Seifer proved that Garden wasn't perfect, and that a few less-than-desirable students would inevitably slip through the cracks.

Irvine shook his head. "No. They're not all good."

The mayor raised his hands. "Then how can you say that SeeD is good and Galbadia is evil?"

(Well… Selphie's the one who said that. Not me.)

Irvine sighed. "Okay, fine, ya got me. I can't say that. What's your point?"

"You people…" the mayor said. "All of you people. Galbadians and SeeDs. You are so caught up in these meaningless identities. You refer to yourself by names given to the land, as if where you were born or where you are living is the most essential part of your being. You start wars over imaginary lines drawn on paper maps. Your entire worldview is built by making false enemies of people whose only crime is being of a different heritage, or living on a different island.

"And you SeeDs are the worst of all. You are mercenaries. You profit from this pointless conflict. You depend on it. Without war, SeeD would collapse. You are a parasite upon the worst aspect of humanity, both feeding into it and feeding from it. And yet you come in here and act proud and brag of your accomplishments. You claim to have done good, yet everything you have done—good or evil—has been enabled by the meaningless deaths of others. You are all killers. Nothing more. Nothing less."

Irvine clenched his teeth.

(Definitely shoulda let this drop.)

"It ain't that simple," Irvine said. "The world ain't that simple."

"It is simpler than you might believe," the mayor said. "But you have been lied to your entire life, and have come to accept this lie as a part of your identity. You cannot imagine a world without conflict, so therefore you say that it cannot possibly exist. And yet, here is Fisherman's Horizon." He raised his hands and gestured around him. "It's a small piece of the world, admittedly, but one that is free from conflict. You can live in a world without war if you choose, but it requires you to first give up your identity. But that is something you all seem unwilling to do, and so the wars continue."

"Look," Irvine said, growing heated. He stuck out a hand and pointed, stabbing at the mayor as he spoke. "If we stopped fighting, we'd die. Galbadia or someone else would come after us and kill us. We have to fight for survival."

"SeeD does, perhaps," the mayor said. "But if I am recalling my facts correctly, you chose this life. Unlike the people of Dollet, or Trabia, or Timber, or even the people of Galbadia that you despise so much, you were not born a SeeD. You were born somewhere else, you heard of Garden, and you enlisted. You made war an essential part of your identity, and agreed to spend the rest of your life in combat. You have chosen to be a soldier. You cannot now claim to be a victim of war."

(Damn… Squall would probably know what to say to this guy.)

But despite himself, Irvine found he was starting to enjoy this. He always did get a kick out of arguments, although this one touched a little too close to home for him to really appreciate it. His anger mixed with a sense of excitement as the debate raged on.

"Look," Irvine said. He straightened up, believing that he finally had the end-all argument that would put the old man down for good. "There's always gonna be war. And you know why? Because there's always some greedy bastard who wants more than he's earned. Some punk who decides that picking up a sword is easier than picking up a shovel. And everyone else in the world can obey the laws, love each other, and do whatever the hell they want, but if no one does anything to stop this punk with a sword, then he's gonna keep taking and taking and taking. Me and Selphie, we aim to be the kind of people who stop those punks, so that everyone else can go back to their daily lives. I'd say that the only reason FH is allowed to live in peace is because SeeD is fightin' FH's battles for you. But I guess y'all disagree."

The mayor hesitated a moment, but it was just long enough for Irvine to know he'd scored a point in the argument. But before the verbal battle could continue, Flo broke in, "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said. "But we should really focus on the issue at hand. Why have you two come here?"

Irvine frowned.

(But I was winning, damn it!)

The mayor nodded and looked at the visiting pair expectantly. Irvine glanced at Selphie, then decided to tell the whole story, or at least the most recent parts. He mentioned the war in Timber, how he and Selphie got ahold of a Galbadian military train, how they rescued the eight captive SeeDs, and their desire to lay low and reconnect with Garden.

"Look," Irvine said. "I know ya'll ain't thrilled to be hostin' us, and that's fine. We ain't thrilled to be here either. Just help us get in touch with SeeD so we can scram. After that, we'll be gone. You'll never even know we were here."

The mayor thought for a moment, then said, "In this situation, I do not feel it's in our best interests to get involved. Last time FH and Garden came into contact, we had no choice but to assist you. You were stranded here and would have stayed indefinitely without our help. This time you are asking for asylum from a foreign government, and you've come here willingly. If we were to aid you, it would be akin to taking sides in this battle between you and Galbadia. And we do not take sides in war. I want you to be absolutely clear about this: Fisherman's Horizon is not a hideout for SeeD. You cannot come here to 'lay low' every time you provoke the Galbadian government."

"We didn't provoke—" Selphie said. Irvine gave her a quick glance and she stopped. "Never mind."

Silence filled the room for a few seconds. Flo leaned over to her husband. He angled his head towards her to listen to what she was saying.

"Maybe we should ask them about it," Flo said, whispering. "They would probably know something on the matter."

"I am quite sure that they do," the mayor responded, whispering as well. "But their answer to all problems is the same: violence."

"We don't have to accept their answer," she said. "But perhaps some more information will allow us to make a better decision for ourselves."

"Better decision 'bout what?" Selphie asked. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

The mayor turned away from Flo and said, "What do you two know about sorceresses?"

(Oh, hell…)

Irvine slumped a little. It was as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun. "What happened?"

The mayor was silent. He extended a hand, palm up, gesturing for his wife to tell the story. She closed her eyes and began to speak.

"Several days ago a woman appeared on the edge of town," she said. "She was traveling by foot, which is odd enough by itself, but even stranger were her clothes. We're fairly insulated from the rest of the world here in FH, so perhaps it's meaningless for me to say that I have never before seen a dress like the one this woman was wearing. Perhaps it's high fashion on some faraway island. She was badly wounded, so Dobe and I took her into our house to nurse her back to health. As we were bringing her back, I happened to touch this woman's arm and I… well… I became a sorceress. The other woman immediately vanished in a blue flame, and left no trace behind. We've been contemplating what to do ever since."

"Whoa," Selphie said. She fumbled to lean forward in her fluffy cushion. "You're a sorceress? How d'ya know for sure?"

"I haven't used my power," Flo said. "But I can feel it. I've never used magic before, but somehow I know exactly what to do. It's an instinct, almost. I-I cannot describe it any better than that."

Mayor Dobe looked at the two SeeDs, as if ashamed to ask for help from mercenaries, even if it was only to ask a few questions. "Any information you could provide would be appreciated," he said. "I must admit that my knowledge of sorceresses is very slight, and we don't have anyone else here who is very familiar with them either. I assume that SeeD might know something."

Irvine, still a little angry about the previous argument, pounced on this point. He crossed his arms and said, "Why should we help you when y'all won't help us?"

Mayor Dobe sighed. "I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was upset that you came so suddenly into our city and, in my anger, I allowed my prejudices to speak for me. I suppose lending you a little bit of aid will not compromise our principles. I am sorry for my actions."

He bowed his head all the way down to the floor and his wife joined him. Irvine almost recoiled at this excessively formal apology.

(Geez… way to make me feel awkward.)

"Eh, it's alright," Irvine said, embarrassed. The two rose from their bow. "Most people who disagree with us usually pull out a weapon at some point. So gettin' a lecture is no big deal by comparison."

"We humbly request any information you may have on sorceresses," Mayor Dobe said. "And in return you can stay here in FH for a time while we will help you contact Garden."

"Deal," Irvine said.

After that, he and Selphie took turns going through a list of all the facts they knew about sorceresses. They weren't sure what was relevant to the situation, or what exactly the mayor was looking for, so they decided to hit all the subjects and hope at least one of them would turn out to be helpful. After a few minutes, they reached the limits of their combined knowledge and stopped. When it came to sorceresses, Irvine and Selphie were among the more well-informed people in the world, but even they had to admit that their understanding was rather limited. Sorceresses were still largely a mystery.

"And I guess that about covers it," Irvine said. He glanced at Selphie and shrugged. She shrugged back.

"I see," Mayor Dobe said. "I was hoping there would be a better solution to the problem, but we will simply have to make do. I had hoped that the sorceress power could be neutralized, like a bomb or some other weapon, so that it wouldn't hurt anybody. But if the power must exist, then we shall keep it safe here in FH, where at least we know it won't be used to cause harm to others."

(But it ain't gonna be used to help nobody either.)

Flo seemed disappointed as well, but she nodded in agreement with the mayor's words.

"We should tell the people at the city's edge to allow the SeeDs to come in," Mayor Dobe said to his wife. "They can park their train in the depot under the bridge and we'll give them accommodations until Garden is contacted."

Flo nodded again. As one unit, the husband and wife pair rose to their feet. Irvine stood up as well. Selphie had to fight and claw and wiggle her way out of the soft cushion before she got her boots on the floor and could stand up.

"We are really super sorry to barge in you," Selphie said.

"No matter," Dobe said. "All is forgiven."

The four went down the stairs and then stepped outside. Irvine had adjusted to the relative dimness of the house and the sudden glare from the solar panels made his eyes feel like they were being stabbed. He winced in frustration and tipped his hat down to block some of the light as he followed Dobe, Flo, and Selphie up the long, rusty steps and out of the stadium.

They returned to where they had left the Galbadian train parked on the tracks. Most of the residents of FH had left to attend to other business. A few were still down in the depot, picking through the ruined trains, while three or four were milling around the front of the Galbadian train. A couple SeeDs had woken up and stood on the tracks. They leaned against the side of the train, waiting for news from Irvine and Selphie. Everyone turned to look when the four approached.

"Let them in," Mayor Dobe said. "They are our guests for now. Also have someone acquire a radio that has a strong signal."

The tanned FH man who had originally spoken to Irvine when they had first arrived looked at the Mayor and frowned, not bothering to hide his disdain for the mayor's decision. But after a moment, his face softened into a mask of perfect serenity as he turned to Irvine.

"Pull your train into the depot," the man said. He gestured to the ramps than led down below the bridge. "Once you're there, you can park in any open spot."

"You're not gonna scavenge it for parts, are ya?" Irvine asked, only somewhat jokingly.

"That depends on your actions while you're here," the man said.

"Now, now," Mayor Dobe said. "Stop this nonsense."

The man nodded at the mayor and walked down the tracks towards the city. The SeeDs—including Irvine and Selphie—climbed aboard the train. The other SeeDs went in the back to wake the others, while Selphie insisted on controlling the train. Irvine bowed and gestured to the controls.

She fired up the engine and clicked a couple buttons to adjust the tracks so that the train would head down into the depot. She gently nudged the throttle and guided the train down the right-hand ramp. The angle of the ramp was rather severe and the train lurched precariously a couple of times—making Irvine nervously glance out the window at the deep blue ocean and the long, long drop to sea level—but Selphie whispered calming words to the engine as she nursed the throttle to the perfect speed. After a few seconds, she successfully managed to bring the train down to the lower level.

The depot was a rat's nest of discarded and ancient trains, like a museum where no one bothered to clean or label the exhibits. Most were rusted-out shells of metal, brown and crumbling in the sea air. The few that were still in usable shape had been gutted of all their good parts, leaving only the frames behind.

Selphie drove to the far end of the platform, where it ended in a lattice of crisscrossing support pipes that kept the depot attached to the bridge. None of the available spots were long enough to accommodate the military train, so Selphie shrugged and parked the train where it was, right in the middle of the center track. It was at the far end of the depot and not likely to get in anyone's way.

"Good enough," Irvine said.

(Well, it ain't like we're stayin' long anyway.)

"You stay here for now," Selphie whispered to the train. "We'll be back."

She patted the train on the top of its control panel.

"Pretty sure the train ain't goin' anywhere," Irvine said.

"I know," Selphie said chirpily. "I just wanna make sure that it doesn't think we're abandoning it here."

"Er, right," Irvine said.

He hopped out of the train, followed by Selphie. From one of the cars near the back of the train, the other eight SeeDs jumped out as well. Some were yawning or rubbing sleep out of their eyes.

About two or three stories above them, on top of the Horizon Bridge, Irvine heard a gentle rumbling coming from the tracks. He narrowed his eyes and looked up, trying to puzzle out what the noise could be. All he could see was the brown underside of the bridge.

His brain seized on a possible answer. At the same moment, one of the FH citizens above cried out, "Another train's coming!"

Irvine and Selphie tensed up. The other eight SeeDs froze as well, even the sleepy ones suddenly jerking to full alertness as their minds all thought the same thing.

Ever since the sorceress war, Esthar had completely shut itself off from the world, and the Horizon Bridge had gone almost unused. Visitors to FH weren't unheard of, but most of them arrived by boat, since it was difficult to find trains willing to go all the way out to FH. Given the circumstances and the timing, there was one logical conclusion.

(Galbadia followed us.)

His fears were confirmed when a second shout came from above, "It's another G-Army train!"

Irvine turned to Selphie. "Grab our weapons. Everyone else, get ready for a fight."

Selphie didn't hesitate. She jumped back inside the train to find her nunchaku and Irvine's shotgun. She emerged a second later and tossed him his weapon, which he easily snatched out of the air. The eight SeeDs gathered around Irvine, apparently waiting for their orders.

(Wait. Why're they all lookin' at me?)

(I ain't a leader.)

He scowled. He didn't like the idea of leading a team. In combat, he much preferred the lone wolf approach, so that he didn't have to worry about anyone except himself. He could focus on his objective, observe his target, and plan things out. But his time with Selphie, Squall, and the others had taught him a great deal about group combat tactics, so he somewhat familiar with leadership.

Also, as he looked around the depot, he realized that his training as a sniper would be of service in this situation. Effective sniping was all about positioning and angles. Normally, a sniper would want to be above his target in order to have the dominant position, but Irvine figured he could work something out. His mind spun as it considered the possibilities.

Although the depot was directly underneath the bridge—and therefore provided no clear view of the bridge itself—the depot extended beyond the width of the bridge on both sides, which gave him a slight angle on the top if he stood on the very edge of the depot. It wasn't ideal, but it was all he had to work with. He came up with a plan.

"All right, we're gonna flank 'em from both sides," Irvine said. "Selphie, you and four SeeDs go up the right-hand ramp. You four," he said, motioning to another group. "Stick with me on the left side. When I shoot, that's the signal to attack. Got it?"

Everyone nodded, then broke apart into their assigned groups. Despite being exhausted from their captivity, none of the SeeDs showed any signs of fatigue as the adrenaline of combat began to course through their bodies. Irvine sprinted to the far left side to try to get into position before the Galbadians arrived. His four SeeDs stuck close behind him. Although they didn't have their weapons, they'd still be able to provide support with offensive and defensive magic.

Without being told, the more magically adept students were calling up protect spells and casting them on their allies. Irvine felt the energy of a protect spell encase him and saw the transparent blue shield close in front of him with an electronic snap.

He brought the four SeeDs out to the very edge of the depot and looked up. He could only barely see the upper edge of the bridge, giving him a terrible shooting angle, but short of climbing up top and completely revealing himself to the enemy, he had no other option.

(Cover. I need cover.)

There was a gutted rusty train car parked a few paces away. After FH's scavenging, the train had been reduced to nothing but wheels, a flat base, and a few iron bars. Irvine ducked beside it, hiding behind the wheels and peeking up at the tracks. He took off his hat so that it wouldn't give away his position. He poked the barrel of his shotgun just over the edge of the train's platform, pointing up at the tracks. His shotgun barrel blended in well among the other random steel bars on top of the train's platform. Once he was set, he hunkered down into position and began the process of steadying his mind.

He breathed in once, slowly. Then out again, slowly. His eyes were half-lidded. He focused on the positions of his arms and legs and fingers, and visualized his entire body as one cohesive unit. Then he took that whole unit and discarded it, ignoring all of his senses except the ones necessary for sniping. At that moment, there was nothing in his thoughts except his eyes, the metal sights at the top of his shotgun, and his finger on the trigger.

(…)

The noise of the train approaching grew louder and louder. From his bad angle, Irvine could only see the very top of the train when it finally came into view. From his perspective, he had barely a finger's width of target to aim at. He decided to wait to see if a better opportunity arose. He emerged a little from his sniper trance so that he could ponder his next step.

The brakes screeched as the train slowed to a stop. He could hear billows of steam hissing from the bottom of the stopped train. A door opened and squeaked on its hinges, then several pairs of boots clattered to the tracks. He adjusted his shoulders, hunting for an angle, but no matter where he moved, his viewpoint didn't improve. All he could see was the side of the bridge and the top of the train.

(Damn it, I'm useless down here.)

More boots hit the tracks. Irvine could hear the sounds of soldiers fanning out in all directions. To his delight, one soldier was foolish enough to walk near the edge of the bridge, fully exposing his head and shoulders to Irvine. It wasn't much, but Irvine lined the soldier up in his sights. The soldier didn't bother looking down, instead staring sternly out at the ocean, as if watching for a boat. Irvine breathed deeply and focused.

(Wait for it…)

There was still a slim chance that Mayor Dobe could talk his way out of the situation. Irvine had almost no faith in the man, but he didn't want to be accused of starting a fight until he was absolutely sure that the fight was unavoidable.

(And he says I ain't a pacifist.)

"May I ask what your business is?" Mayor Dobe said. Irvine couldn't see him or Flo, but the echo of his voice gave Irvine a fair idea of where he was located. He must have been standing a few dozen paces from the front of the train.

"We tracked a stolen train to this location," a soldier said gruffly. "We know it's here, old man, so tell us where it is."

Irvine cursed under his breath.

(But how?)

He'd been keeping a careful eye on the scanner on the train, making sure that no other trains were on their tail. During the trip, he'd even gone to the very back of the train to get a visual, making certain that there was no one behind them. And it wasn't as if FH was an obvious place to hide the train, so how did Galbadia know to come?

Irvine groaned as he remembered the answer. A few years ago, Galbadia had begun putting tracking devices on all their major trains after a group of Timber rebels had successfully stole a cargo shipment. He had learned that detail while he was still at G-Garden, but it hadn't seemed relevant to him then, so he'd forgotten it until that very moment.

(Of course. Now's when I finally start rememberin' what I learned in school.)

(Now that it's too late to do anything about it.)

"Perhaps there's some misunderstanding?" Mayor Dobe said.

"Ain't no misunderstanding, old man," the soldier said. "A train bound for D-District suddenly turned around and began heading to FH. Unless the train turned itself invisible or started flying, you must've seen it come through here."

There were some sounds that Irvine couldn't identify coming from the top of the bridge. He narrowed his eyes and listened, his shotgun sights focused on the head of the soldier.

"We are a peaceful people," Mayor Dobe said quickly. "We don't believe in violence."

The soldier cackled. "We do. You're all under arrest for impeding a lawful search!"

(Damn!)

Whatever slim chance there was for a peaceful resolution had now slipped away. If the Galbadians were willing to arrest the mayor of Fisherman's Horizon, then it was clear that they wouldn't be turned around by mere words alone.

(Sometimes, you gotta fight.)

Irvine went back into his sniper trance and breathed a half breath out. He steadied his fingers, lined up the target, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the depot and raced out to sea. The soldier went limp and fell over the edge of the bridge, his body tumbling past Irvine's position and landing in the ocean below.

"CHAAARGE!" Selphie yelled as she and the other four SeeDs raced up the ramp and emerged topside. Blasts of fire, ice, and lightning erupted as spells of every kind burst through the sky. Galbadian gunfire answered, but Irvine could tell from the sound that it was confused and sporadic. Despite their bravado and bullying, the G-Army hadn't expected to encounter much resistance.

(Idiots.)

The four SeeDs next to Irvine began standing up, ready to run and join their companions. But Irvine held up a closed fist, signaling them to wait. He wanted to try to flank the soldiers one more time, hopefully tricking them into all looking Selphie's way so he and the others could catch them from behind.

He paused a couple beats until he felt sure that all the attention was on Selphie, then signaled the attack with a wave of his hand. He snatched up his hat and put it on his head, fighting down an urge to give out a war whoop. In an instant, he and the SeeDs broke cover from behind the train and scrambled up the ramp.

Irvine didn't climb all the way to the top, instead pausing just high enough to peek his head and shoulders up above the tracks. He grinned when he saw that his plan had worked: all the soldiers left alive had scrambled to the far side of their train to take cover from Selphie's attack, but that had left them completely open to Irvine's flanking move.

(Sometimes, I'm pretty brilliant.)

Irvine raised his shotgun to his shoulder and knocked off three soldiers in rapid succession, like shooting steel ducks at a gallery. The SeeDs behind him rained magic upon their foes. Now that they were being squeezed from both sides, the G-soldiers broke apart in a chaotic frenzy, rushing to dive back inside the train. But Irvine covered the open doors with his weapon, cutting down any soldiers who tried to escape into the train.

His eyes flicked to the side to check up on Dobe and Flo. They were cowering together on the tracks, their arms around each other, their eyes closed to the fighting all around them. Selphie stood guard over them, kneeling beside a few fallen Galbadian soldiers and throwing frenzied spells towards the train with both hands. Her small body and energetic movements made her appear childish, but her eyes were focused and deadly, her jaw set in a mask of concentration.

After a few moments, the initial flurry of action was over. All soldiers who didn't make it to the train lay dead on the tracks, while the soldiers inside the train slammed all the doors shut. The gunfire stopped. The last magic spell—an ice spell—slammed into the train and broke apart, sending ice shards in all directions. Irvine kept his shotgun raised, but didn't expect to have to pull the trigger. Everything fell silent.

"Should we attempt to breach the train?" one of the SeeDs asked Irvine.

He shook his head. "Naw, that'd be crazy. They're in there waitin' for us. It'd be suicide to go after them."

"So we just let them go?" another SeeD asked desperately.

At those words, the train hissed to life again and began to roll backwards down the tracks, heading away from the city and back towards Galbadia.

(We can't let 'em go…)

(… But we can't stop 'em either.)

He ground his teeth in frustration, but no bright ideas came to mind. He had some powerful spells in his inventory and a couple of deadly shotgun shells in his pockets, but nothing that could disable a train. Maybe a concentrated, focused spell from all the SeeDs would have been able to do the trick, but by the time the thought occurred to him, the Galbadian train was already too far away and gathering speed.

In less than a minute the train chugged out of sight, although the rumbling noise it made in the tracks was still audible for several minutes after it had gone. Irvine vaulted up onto the tracks, followed by the other SeeDs, and gathered everyone together for a group huddle. Selphie and her group hustled over to join the conversation.

"Anybody hurt?" Irvine asked. Among the SeeDs, there were a few minor injuries, but everyone quickly patched each other up with some basic healing magic. Irvine and Selphie turned and headed towards Mayor Dobe and Flo, who were still cowering on the tracks and clutching each other.

"You're welcome," Irvine said. He rested his shotgun on his shoulder. The barrel felt warm through the fabric of his trench coat.

"W-welcome?" Mayor Dobe said. With shaky legs, he got to his feet. "That was… that was the most disgusting display of unnecessary violence I have seen in years."

"Unnecessary?" Selphie said.

"I was handling the situation," Mayor Dobe said. He put a hand to his chest. "We were talking with the soldiers peacefully."

(All right, I'm just about done with this crazy old man.)

"You were talking yourselves all the way to D-District," Irvine said. He spread his arms open wide. "We saved y'all from prison."

"But we would have still been alive," Mayor Dobe said indignantly. He raised his chin. "And so would those soldiers." He gestured at the bloody corpses scattered around him. "Now they are dead because of you and we are in no better circumstances than we were a minute ago. You've accomplished nothing."
Irvine shrugged. "Is that all that matters to you? Bein' alive? Even if you're in prison?"

"Life is precious," Mayor Dobe said. "If preserving another's life means that we must go to prison, then Flo and I are glad to accept our fates."

Irvine shook his head.

(There just ain't no talking to him.)

Flo, assisted by her husband, got to her feet.

"You SeeDs delight in violence," Mayor Dobe said softly. "And now you have guaranteed more of it. You may think I'm a fool, but I know more about the world than you can imagine. This is not the end of it. If we had surrendered peacefully, then perhaps the Galbadians would have done their business and left the city. But now you have slaughtered their soldiers. They will come back with more troops and more weapons. And this time, they will be driven by vengeance. And it is all because of your meddling."

"So what're y'all gonna do about it?" Irvine asked.

"We will stay here," Mayor Dobe said. "And we will wait for the Galbadians and hope that there is still a chance to reason with them."

Irvine scoffed, but the mayor didn't seem to hear him. He continued.

"But SeeD must leave immediately," Mayor Dobe said. "Our deal is off. You cannot stay here."

"WHAT?" Selphie yelled.

"You're kiddin' me!" Irvine yelled.

"You've done this to yourselves," Mayor Dobe said with a quiet fury. "Your reckless actions and violent behavior have instigated this situation. You must leave now before you make matters even worse."

Irvine grimaced. There was no way they could go back to the Galbadian continent. Not only were they traveling with ten SeeDs—eight of which were prison escapees—but their only means of transportation was carrying a hidden tracking device. Assuming that the Galbadians had radioed back to their headquarters immediately after they fled, it was possible that the alert had already been signaled and troops from the Timber area were massing for battle.

(We can't go west.)

(It's suicide.)

Irvine clutched his shotgun tightly in both hands.

(I got a better idea.)

"You know what?" he said. "No. No, we ain't gonna leave."

The mayor looked stunned. "What?"

"And you can't make us," Irvine said. "What are you gonna to do, talk us to death?"

"Uh, Irvy, what are you doing?" Selphie asked.

"Keeping us alive," Irvine said.

"You… you…" the mayor said. His tanned face turned dull red.

"You what?" Irvine asked. He put his shotgun between himself and the mayor, an implied threat that the mayor understood all too well. "Remember our conversation back in your house? I'm gonna give you a practical demonstration of what I meant back there. If you refuse to fight us, then you ain't got any way to make us leave."

"We will not stoop to your level," the mayor said softly.

"Then you can't stop us," Irvine said. "Now, are we all just gonna stand here like idiots or are we gonna plan for what happens next?"

He turned his head towards the other SeeDs and whistled to bring them in close. "Come on, let's help the good people of FH clean the blood off the tracks. We got some preparations to make."