Chapter 30

Sorceress' Knight (Part 2)

(Squall)

The door to the passenger bay slid closed behind Squall. He paused and rested a hand on his hip. He glanced over his shoulder at the door, staring at it pensively.

(Can I just leave him there?)

Squall crossed his arms and considered the situation. Behind him in the passenger bay was Seifer, one of the most dangerous and individually competent soldiers Squall knew. And Squall had just left this dangerous soldier in a room with only three Esthar soldiers and one android guard. Was that enough?

Each of those soldiers were hooked up to helmet-mounted radios that could, in an instant, raise an alarm to all the other soldiers in the ship. If Seifer tried anything suspicious, the guards would be able to respond and signal the alarm within moments. Furthermore, Seifer was unarmed and strapped to a chair. Ellone was on standby, waiting for a signal—any signal—to connect with Seifer and send him back into the past, thus effectively sedating him.

But whatever Squall could say about Seifer's potential threat level, he could also say about Ciel's. Perhaps even more so, in the case of the sorceress. Ciel had, after all, almost single-handedly defied the might of the Galbadian army and gone on a massive city-wide rampage throughout Timber. She was undoubtedly more powerful than Seifer, more unpredictable than Seifer, and—unlike Seifer—Ellone had so far been unable to connect with her. Ciel was, without question, the greatest concern on the Ragnarok at that moment. Seifer was a mere annoyance by comparison. To devote his energies on Seifer when Ciel was aboard the ship was foolishness.

Squall sighed. Still, even though he knew that he should focus his efforts on Ciel, he could almost guarantee that Seifer would make an escape attempt. That was just Seifer's nature. Defiant to the end, even when the people he was fighting were trying to help him. Knowing this, it was hard for Squall to just walk away from the room and trust the Esthar soldiers to the task.

(There's nothing I can do.)

(I can't guard them both, so I have to guard the most dangerous one.)

He frowned and shook his head. He decided that his best plan would be to help Ellone connect with Ciel as soon as possible. Once Ellone could send both prisoners into the past at will, everything would become much easier. Then it would simply be a matter of keeping Ellone away from both of them, so that she'd be free to work her powers without interference.

With his arms still crossed and his head bowed towards the ground, Squall moved away from the door and headed down to the hangar, then down the steps and into the storage room where they kept Ciel.

The room was not much more than an extended hallway. Shelves on either wall were filled with various spare parts and supplies for the Ragnarok. Squall, unfamiliar with Esthar technology, couldn't even begin to guess what any of the spare parts were meant to do. Unlike the rest of the Ragnarok, the storage room was poorly lit, leaving long shadows in the corners of the room.

Ellone, Rinoa, and two Esthar soldiers stood in the room, waiting for Squall's next order. Squall would have liked to cram more guards inside, but there really wasn't much spare room. Sitting in an awkward hunched position on the floor with one arm extended—still frozen with Rinoa's stop spell—was the Sorceress Ciel. Her face was stuck in a mask of dazed unawareness, having been stopped right after Squall's summoning of his GF.

(She looks young.)

Squall allowed the door to automatically seal shut behind him. His expression stern, he looked up at Ellone and Rinoa.

"Stay as far to the back as you can, both of you" Squall said. "And stay quiet. I don't want her to know that you're in the room with us."

(If Ciel attacks, I want her first strike to be against me.)

Ellone and Rinoa nodded, then retreated back to the far end of the room where it was darker.

"All right," Squall said. "Let's get started." He looked at Rinoa. "Release the stop spell and switch it to a sleep spell and a silence spell. Do it as quickly as possible."

Rinoa nodded, then focused. She looked relieved to finally be able to release the energy of the stop spell. She took a few deep breaths, gathering her energy. Meanwhile, Ciel remained frozen, as the lingering effects of the stop spell continued to affect her body's perception of time. After a moment, Rinoa cast a simple, quick sleep spell then a silence spell, which overlapped with the stop spell. There were no visible changes, but Squall knew from experience that once the stop spell wore off, only the sleep and the silence would remain, which was exactly the effect he wanted.

As predicted, the stop spell wore off and Ciel's body reanimated. Her eyes slid shut with sleep, and her limp body tumbled softly into a heap. The Odine Bangle on her wrist clattered loudly when it hit the hard metal floor.

Squall pointed at one of the Esthar guards. "Bind her hands. Carefully, so she doesn't wake up."

One of the soldiers nodded, then kneeled down beside the sorceress. He produced a plastic zip tie from a pocket and grabbed the sorceress' wrists, deftly binding her arms together behind her back. Ciel continued to sleep, making gentle snoring noises through her open mouth.

"Now, prop her up into a sitting position and stay behind her," Squall said. "Don't let her turn around and look at Ellone or Rinoa."

The guard moved to comply. He gently picked up Ciel by the arms, careful not to wake her, and pulled her into a slumping sitting position. With one hand, he held her wrists firmly, and with the other he supported her shoulders. His rifle hung from a strap on his shoulder. Squall rested his hand on the handle of his gunblade, watching Ciel's expression.

"Ellone," Squall said. "Do you know how long it will take you to make the first connection? I mean, has Dr. Odine ever done any tests like this with you before?"

She shook her head. "No, he's never been interested in practical tests like this. He just studies my brainwaves a lot and mutters to himself."

(Sounds like Odine…)

"Well, you don't need to wait for my signal to start," Squall said. "Once Ciel's awake, just keep trying to make the connection until you're through, all right?"

Ellone nodded.

"Are you ready, Rinoa?" Squall asked.

Rinoa nodded.

Everyone in the room knew that it all depended on the two women in the back. Rinoa and Ellone were the only people aboard the Ragnarok with any real chance of subduing the sorceress, should she decide to attack. The Esthar soldiers could be cut down like grass, like the dozens of G-Army soldiers and prison wardens she massacred back in D-District. Squall, with his augmented abilities and prior experience fighting sorceresses, might be able to defend himself for a few seconds, but if Ciel focused her full energy on him, he knew he didn't stand a chance.

(I'd be nothing more than a distraction.)

There was still the Odine Bangle on Ciel's wrist, but Squall had no reason to believe that it would be any more effective than the "Odine Ring" that Ellone had tested earlier. After all, Ellone had just admitted that Odine wasn't interested in practical tests, so it was entirely possible that Odine had put the bangle on the market with little to no actual real world analysis. Squall had no faith in the bangle at all, and decided to assume that it wouldn't work.

(Better to expect it to fail and be prepared, rather than to expect it to work and be surprised.)

"Alright," Squall said. "Lift the sleep spell, but keep up the silence."

Rinoa raised one hand towards Ciel's back and closed her eyes. A few moments later, Ciel's eyelids began to flutter. Then she suddenly jerked awake when her conscious mind kicked back in. She grunted in surprise and anger, and pulled furiously at the restraints around her wrists. The soldier behind her tugged on her shoulders to hold her still, while the other soldier leveled his rifle at her head.

She stopped struggling and glared at Squall.

"There an anti-magic field here too?" she asked, confused.

It was impossible to tell if Ciel's magic was nullified by the silence spell or by the bangle, so he chose to explain the option that made the most sense to him.

"No, it's a status effect," Squall said. He knelt down on one knee, so that he wasn't towering over the sorceress. "It's called 'silence,' and it temporarily cuts you off from using magic. We don't get many chances to use it in real life, because so few people can cast spells."

"'We?'" Ciel said. Her tone was icy. "You mean SeeD?"

Squall nodded. "Yes."

Ciel's expression darkened.

"SeeD…" she muttered. "So I'm SeeD's prisoner now?"

"No," Squall said. "You're no one's prisoner."

Ciel snorted. "Liar."

(I need to calm her down.)

"We're restraining you for our own safety," Squall said. "You did, after all, try to kill us a few minutes ago."

"Who's this 'we' you keep talking about?" Ciel snapped. She nodded her head at the Esthar soldier beside her. "That's not a SeeD uniform."

"You're right," Squall said. "I'm working with the Esthar government right now. We're aboard the spaceship Ragnarok, bound for the city of Esthar as we speak."

Squall fought the urge to glance at Ellone. From the corner of his eye, he could see Ellone focusing intently, her head bowed as she tried to form a connection, but given the fact that Ciel was still perfectly conscious, Ellone obviously wasn't having much luck. Rinoa stood off to the side, two hands extended towards Ciel and ready for combat at a moment's notice.

"What's Esthar want with me?" Ciel asked.

"To keep you safe from the Galbadians," Squall said. "That's our first priority."

"I don't need your help," Ciel said. She looked away. The soldier behind her gave her a swift tug on the shoulder to keep her head forward, so she didn't accidentally see Ellone and Rinoa behind her.

Squall shrugged. "We're giving you our help, whether you want it or not."

Ciel set her jaw. "So are you a SeeD or are you from Esthar?"

"Me? I'm a SeeD," Squall said. He saw no reason to lie, so he expanded on the subject. He wanted Ciel to talk as much as possible. The longer the conversation lasted, the better Ellone's chance of forming a connection. "I'm Squall Leonhart, Commander of SeeD."

"Liar!" Ciel said. She fought against her restraints, forcing the soldier behind her to yank on her again. "Some girl named Quistis is the Commander of SeeD. I talked to her before."

"Quistis is the Lieutenant Commander," Squall said patiently. "She's in charge of SeeD while I'm gone."

Ciel snorted cynically. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't," Squall said. "But it doesn't matter. You're going to Esthar either way, no matter who I am or who I work for. That much is true."

Ciel clenched her jaw so hard that Squall could see the muscles in her cheeks bulging. Her eyes were full of cold anger, as if Squall had personally wronged her in the past and she was seeking vengeance. Squall felt his own anger rising a bit, making it harder for him to focus.

"So what do you want?" Ciel asked.

(For you to go away.)

"I already told you," Squall said. "We're here to keep you safe from the Galbadians."

"Why?" Ciel said.

(Because you're dangerous.)

"Because you're a sorceress," Squall said.

"No, I mean, what's in it for you?" Ciel asked. "Why bother?"

(So that you don't continue your rampage.)

(So that what happened in Timber won't happen in Balamb, or elsewhere.)

(So that SeeD can stop fighting on your behalf.)

"Would you rather we left you in prison?" Squall asked.

"I would've gotten out," Ciel said.

"And then what?" Squall asked. "Where would you go? I haven't seen it for myself, but from what I've heard on the news, Timber is in shambles and crawling with Galbadians. G-Army patrols are canvassing the rest of the continent looking for other sorceresses. Last I heard, Dollet was about to close its borders. Balamb has already been invaded once. The world's a mess right now."

Ciel didn't answer.

"Esthar is the only safe place for you right now," Squall said. "It wasn't our plan to kidnap you, but after you attacked us, we weren't left with much of a choice. I'm sorry."

Ciel still refused to make any comment. Squall sighed and shook his head.

(She's just gonna shut down.)

A part of him would have been glad if she did. He disliked talking to people under the best circumstances, and talking to Ciel was especially frustrating to him. It was annoying, having all his words questioned and met with scorn. If she wanted to be stubborn, then he felt compelled to let her stay silent. Why fight with her?

But, on the other hand, she was still a sorceress, and would probably be a key player in the unfolding events around the world. Depending on which side she choose—or if she chose a side at all—the conflict with Galbadia could either turn into a long, costly struggle or a relatively short battle. If Ciel could be convinced to work with Rinoa, then the combined powers of both sorceresses—with the backing of SeeD and Esthar—could stop Galbadia and bring a swift end to the fighting.

(And if she became our enemy, then this conflict could be extended indefinitely.)

A lot was riding on this conversation. He hated that fact. Diplomacy and negotiation tactics were courses in the SeeD curriculum—and Squall had passed both of those courses at or near the top of his class—but there was a difference between knowing the proper lines of script in a simulated conflict or a final exam, and knowing what to say in a live situation. Writing an essay and giving a speech were wildly different skill sets, and Squall found himself second-guessing his choices, his tone, and his manner.

(Quistis would probably know better than me in this situation.)

Without warning, Ciel began to speak again.

"Do you… know a guy named Zell?" she asked.

Squall narrowed his eyes.

(Why's she asking about him?)

He nodded. "Yes. He's a friend of mine. Why?"

Ciel shrugged. "No reason. I just… have something I wanna say to him. Do you think I'll get a chance to see him soon?"

(Unlikely.)

"I don't know," Squall said. "Maybe."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Ciel asked.

(What's with these questions?)

(… Whatever. As long as it keeps her talking.)

"I've been told that he does," Squall said.

"He abandoned us, you know," Ciel said. "SeeD promised to fight with us, and Zell and his team ran off in the middle of a fight, like a bunch of cowards."

(Doesn't sound like something Zell would do.)

"I wasn't part of that decision," Squall said. "I was in Esthar at the time."

"Yeah," Ciel said, sneering again. "So then why…"

She blinked, and looked startled. She winced, as if someone was driving a nail into her skull. She shut her eyes and shook her head, muttering something under her breath that Squall couldn't understand. A moment later, her eyes rolled up and she went limp. The soldier behind her had to catch her by the shoulders to keep her from collapsing to the floor.

Squall looked up at Ellone. She was deeply focused and motionless, the way she got whenever she made a connection with someone.

(It worked!)

He sighed in relief.

(Good. Now I can stop talking to her.)

"Well… Ellone has the connection," Squall said. He rose to his feet. "Now we can put her down anytime, anywhere. She should be more manageable this way."

On the far side of the room, Rinoa relaxed, letting her arms fall down to her sides.

"Sis, can you hear me?" Squall asked. Ellone made no movement, instead remaining perfectly focused.

(Damn it, we never asked if Ellone could hear me while she's connected.)

It was a frustrating oversight, but Squall figured it was probably minor. He decided to wait a couple of seconds for Ellone to break the connection on her own. A few moments later, Ellone opened her eyes and raised her head. Ciel was a little slower in recovering.

"Put her back down," Squall said. "And keep her down until I get back. Can you do that?"

Ellone nodded, then focused again. Before she ever truly awoke, Ciel went back to sleep. The Esthar soldier behind her laid her out on the floor and grabbed his rifle.

"Stay alert," Squall said to the Esthar soldiers. "I'm going to go check on Seifer."

"I'll come too," Rinoa said, stepping forward.

"You're better off staying here," Squall said. "If something happens…"

"There's something I want to tell you," Rinoa said.

Squall grimaced and put a hand on his shoulder.

(It better be important.)

"Can't it wait?" Squall said. "Or can't you tell me now?"

"Nope," Rinoa said. She put her hands behind her back and wiggled her body sheepishly. Squall sighed.

With one hand, he motioned for Rinoa to come with him. She trotted across the room, taking a wide berth around the unconscious sorceress, and joined Squall. He gripped her gently by the elbow and guided her back out of the room and into the hangar.

Outside, at the far end of the hangar, two Esthar soldiers stood chatting to each other. He walked past them and headed up the stairs to the second floor. An Esthar guard on patrol headed down the walkway towards the airlocks. The guard didn't turn to look at them as they headed through the door and entered into the elevator room. The room was about as private as they were likely to get aboard the small ship, so he stopped and turned to Rinoa.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Squall asked.

"Well, you're kinda screwing up it up," Rinoa said. "I thought you wanted to get Ciel on our side?"

He sighed.

(She's probably right.)

"It's just…" Squall shook his head and put one hand to his forehead. He paused a moment to collect his thoughts. "I don't think we'll ever get Ciel on our side. She seems to hate SeeD. I don't know why. Maybe because of what happened in Timber, with Zell, or something. I don't know. In any case, I don't think we can reason with her."

Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, I got that feeling too."

"So, if we can't work with her, then what?" Squall asked. "I don't want to turn her over to Dr. Odine and I don't really want to lock her in the Sorceress Memorial. But if she fights us, then what choice do we have?"

Squall remembered the Sorceress Memorial. The small little temple-like building atop a long series of steps in the middle of the plains of Esthar. He remembered how he had broken into that building and fought through the strange machinery in order to free Rinoa from the fate of being sealed from the world.

And Seifer's words came back to haunt him as well. If Squall locked up Ciel for the good of the world, was he really a hypocrite? Would he just keep locking up any and all sorceresses who didn't fall in line with his idea of right and wrong? And what about Rinoa?

The world, he knew, was composed of a lot of different viewpoints. And many of those viewpoints conflicted. What gave him the right to say that his ways, his ideas, were the ones worth protecting and defending? Why was it okay for him to risk his life and the safety of the world to save Rinoa from the Sorceress Memorial, and then turn around and shove another sorceress in her place? Was Ciel really that dangerous, or was Squall misjudging the situation?

(I feel like I'm losing my mind.)

"I don't want to put her in the Sorceress Memorial either," Rinoa said. She gazed into the distance and shuddered with the memory. "Which is why you have to get her to see our side. Ciel seems…" Rinoa paused. "I dunno. It wasn't much to go on, that one conversation. I think we'll need to talk with her some more first. I mean, if someone came and abducted me, then locked me in a storage room, I don't think I'd be very friendly either."

(That's what's bothering me.)

"Right," Squall said. "This whole mission hasn't really gone to plan. But… if she hadn't fought us back at the prison, we wouldn't have had to do all this."

"I don't think we can blame her for that," Rinoa said. "From her perspective, she was busy rescuing herself from prison when we came and kidnapped her."

Squall crossed his arms. "I suppose. But even so, do you think there's any chance that we'll be able to fix this? Or is she going to hate us forever now?"

"I dunno," Rinoa said. "We've given her a really bad first impression. She's probably feeling very scared right now, but she doesn't want to show it. You with your gunblade and the guards sticking their rifles in her face probably aren't helping."

"You think I should go in unarmed this time?" Squall asked.

Rinoa shrugged. "Maybe. Now that Ellone can connect with her, we don't really need any weapons to stop her. They're just intimidating her. Making her defensive."

Squall nodded. "Yeah. We need to approach this from a different direction."

"It won't be easy," Rinoa said.

"Okay, no weapons this time," Squall said. "Maybe we can take the guards out too. Just have you, me, and Ellone in the room. Try to reach some kind of understanding. And maybe you can talk with her this time. She won't listen to me, but she might listen to a fellow sorceress. Is that okay with you?"

Rinoa smiled. She held her hands behind her back and wiggled her shoulders.

(Damn.)

(I said something funny again.)

"What?" Squall asked.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe how much you've changed," Rinoa said. "From when I first met you."

Squall narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"I haven't changed that much," Squall said. "I'm still focused on completing this mission. The only difference is that I'm using better diplomacy and psychology than before. I haven't changed, so much as I've gotten new skills."

(And new friends.)

"I like your new skills," Rinoa said. "You're… more like me, I guess. Less like a SeeD."

"I'm still a SeeD," Squall said.

"Of course," Rinoa said. "And you'll probably always be a SeeD. But I think that you can change what it means to be a SeeD, you know?"

"That's the Headmaster's dream," Squall said. "A new version of SeeD. Less like mercenaries, and more like humans."

(Dunno if I buy into that idea.)

"And you'll be the Commander of the new SeeD," Rinoa said. "You can set the example for all the others to follow."

Squall waved a hand. "That's something we can talk about later. So why did you want to talk to me in private?"

Rinoa shrugged. "I don't like the Esthar soldiers. They're weird."

(That's it?)

"Speaking of weird," Rinoa said. "I'm guessing that Seifer turned down your offer?"

Squall nodded. "Of course."

(Didn't really expect him to agree, but I had to make the offer.)

Rinoa slapped the heel of her hand up to her forehead and shook her head sadly. "Well, yeah. Seifer will do the opposite of whatever you tell him. If you told him that the Ragnarok was full of candy and money, he'd jump out the airlock just to spite you."

"So do you want to try talking to him this time?" Squall asked.

"Sure," Rinoa said. "We can't just… we can't just hand him over to Esthar."

Squall nodded. "All right," he said. "Then let's go."

(Maybe I should have had her talk to Seifer and Ciel from the start.)

(It was stupid of me to try to do everything by myself.)

The pair approached an automatic door beside the elevator, which led into the passenger bay. It slid open smoothly and admitted them inside.

Seeing a statue in the middle of the aisle was so jarring and out of place that his brain couldn't register a response. He stood for a fraction of a second, his mouth slightly open, his eyes focused, taking in the details of the scene. It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of an Esthar soldier lying slumped across the floor that he could finally put the scene together and realize what had happened.

(Damn it!)

Squall rushed to the nearest Esthar soldier and pulled off the soldier's helmet. He stuck the radio microphone close to his mouth and pressed the button on the side to activate it.

"All soldiers, alert!" Squall yelled. "Seifer is loose! Ellone, do you read me? Put Seifer down now! I'm coming for you!"

He tossed the helmet down and stood up. Even though Seifer had escaped the passenger bay, Squall was not too concerned at the moment. There were still other Esthar soldiers roaming the ship—soldiers who had now been put on high alert. Ellone was still around as well, and could hit Seifer as soon as she heard the message. And even if that all fell through, Squall and Rinoa would still prove to be more than a match for Seifer in a fight. The only danger was if Seifer reunited with the sorceress, but he had no way of knowing where she was and would have to search randomly through the ship to find her.

(The situation is still manageable.)

He spent a moment focusing on his priorities. In order to catch Seifer, Squall needed to guess Seifer's psychology, his motivations. At a glance, it seemed like there were four possible options. The first two assumed that Seifer would either try to leave the ship, in which case he'd head for the escape pod, or he'd try to hide and wait for an opportunity to strike, now that the alarm had been sounded.

While those were definite possibilities for anyone other than Seifer, Squall knew his opponent too well to think that Seifer would be content with running or hiding. Seifer—perhaps foolishly, perhaps fatally—was a man who wanted to die fighting, not die running. So Squall went with his next two guesses.

(He's either going to go for the sorceress or the bridge.)

Squall had only a moment to make a decision, and he couldn't decide which outcome was worse. If Seifer went for the sorceress, then he could potentially subdue Ellone and free Ciel. Their combined strength would then possibly be enough to fight their way through the ship and take over the Ragnarok.

If Seifer went to the bridge, he could block the elevator entrance and hole up inside. From there, he'd have complete access to all the ship's components: the airlocks, the pressure systems, and the flight controls. Even if Seifer didn't have time to seal himself off in the bridge, simply fighting him in that room could prove deadly, as any accidental damage to the ship's controls could send it into a death spiral, where it would crash into the ocean and kill them all.

(We have to split up.)

Lost in his own thoughts, he never noticed that one of the guards, lying in the corner of the room, was completely undressed. The idea of Seifer wearing an Esthar uniform never even occurred to him.

"Get to the sorceress," Squall said to Rinoa. "I'll go to the bridge."

Rinoa nodded and spun around, racing out of the room and heading back for the storage room where the sorceress was kept. Squall chased behind her, but instead of following the door across the room, he jumped onto the elevator and rode it up to the bridge. He unhooked his gunblade from the loop around his belt and drew it, holding the handle firmly in both hands. If Seifer was already aboard the bridge, he'd have only an instant to react.

He reached the top and was greeted by two rifles directly in his face. In a way, this was a relief. It meant that the soldiers still held control of the bridge.

(But it also means that Seifer probably went for the sorceress instead.)

A flash of worry for Rinoa crossed Squall's mind. The rifles in his face brought him back to reality.

"It's me, it's me," Squall said, holding up his hands defensively.

"Get away from the elevator," one of the Esthar soldiers said, motioning with his gun to the side.

Squall's first instinct—to his surprise—was to ignore the order and head back down the elevator and chase after Rinoa. He couldn't bear the thought of her being alone with Seifer on the loose. Not that he doubted her abilities, but rather he couldn't help himself from picturing Seifer sneaking up on her from behind and shooting her with a stolen rifle, or stabbing her with a jagged chunk of metal pulled from the ship's guts.

(Focus!)

His rational mind took over from his emotions, and he realized that it was best for Rinoa—best for everyone—if he didn't go charging through the Ragnarok like a lunatic. Rinoa was a sorceress, and Seifer was more likely to surprise and overpower Squall than Rinoa. It was better for him to use the bridge as a central base of operations and learn more about the situation, and then use this information to create a better, more thought-out plan.

He stepped away from the elevator and moved forward to the front of the bridge, to stand behind the pilot. Aside from himself and the pilot, the other two Esthar guards at the elevator were the only ones inside the bridge.

"What's our status?" Squall asked the pilot.

"No major damage to the ship," the pilot responded.

"Has Seifer attempted to use the escape pod?" Squall asked.

The pilot shook his head. "No, the escape pod is still docked."

"Have any guards tried to make contact?" Squall asked.

The pilot shook his head again. "It's been silent since you sounded the alarm. We've tried to contact all units, but only a few have reported in."

(Damn it.)

"Which units have reported in?" Squall asked.

Without warning, the elevator came to life and sunk down to the lower level. Squall spun around and adopted his combat stance, his gunblade in front of him and at waist-level. The two guards at the back put their fingers on the triggers of their rifles. The elevator hummed as it descended, then stopped. A moment later, it hummed again and rose back to the top.

Standing on the platform was a single Esthar soldier. He was clutching his rifle loosely in his hands. The two Esthar guards relaxed when they saw their companion.

"What's the situation down there?" Squall asked, still keeping his grip on his gunblade.

The soldier didn't respond. A long, paranoid silence passed between everyone aboard the bridge. Squall noticed that the soldier on the elevator, oddly enough, was swaying gently side to side, as if listening to a song only he could hear.

(The hell?)

In one rapid motion, the soldier brought his gun up to his shoulder. "All SeeD must perish!" he shouted, before pulling the trigger.

Squall dropped to the ground just in time, as a wild spray of bullets clattered off his above his head. One of the guards screamed and collapsed to the ground, clutching at a bright red spot in his chest. The other guard opened fire and shot the soldier on the elevator, but not before taking a bullet himself. Both the guard and the soldier on the elevator collapsed to the floor simultaneously, leaking blood through holes in their uniforms. In less than three seconds, it was all over.

Squall, his ears ringing, scrambled to his feet and turned to check on the pilot. The pilot was slumped over in his seat, ragged bullet holes torn in a straight line across the back of his chair. A few sparks spit from the dashboard panels, but the Ragnarok continued to fly as the auto-pilot assumed control over the ship.

Squall cursed and ran to check on the slain Esthar soldier on the elevator. He passed the two guards on the way; both were clearly dead and beyond his help.

(Was it Seifer?)

He knelt down beside the soldier and pulled off his mask. The man underneath had short blonde hair, but aside from that, bore no resemblance to Seifer. He was middle-aged, with deep frown-lines and a goatee.

(Not Seifer…)

(But… how? And why?)

His mind raced. Why would one of the guards open fire and kill three of his comrades? Squall's first thought was that Seifer had somehow bribed one of the soldiers to let him go, but that didn't make sense. It was obvious that Seifer's escape from the passenger bay had been violent, not a negotiation.

Squall's next guess was that Seifer had used some sort of magic, but the only spell he knew that could produce an effect like this was confusion. But that couldn't be right either, since confusion magic made the victim violently paranoid and disoriented, attacking anything and everything within range—sometimes even themselves. A person under the effects of confusion magic wouldn't ride an elevator and then calmly slaughter his comrades. That was too complex, too deliberate.

("All SeeD must perish.")

(I've heard that before.)

He didn't have to think hard in order to remember who had spoken those words to him before. The phrasing, the tone, and the grammatical awkwardness of the sentence stirred his memories. He remembered the wide auditorium inside Galbadia Garden. The possessed body of Edea crashing through the ceiling and then landing on the stage. She gave a speech then, just before she began the fight, where she uttered those words.

(Ultimecia.)

(But that's impossible!)

Ultimecia was dead.

Or, Ultimecia would be dead in the future. After generations of time. After casting the beginnings of the time compression magic. Squall and the others had made sure of that. Not only had Squall seen Ultimecia fall, he had personally witnessed Ultimecia as she handed over her powers to the past version of Edea. Ultimecia was completely, utterly dead, not even lingering on in that cursed half-life that befell sorceresses who died without passing on their powers. She was gone.

(This is Seifer's doing, somehow.)

(It has to be.)

But Squall could not figure out how Seifer did it. No spell in the world, no bribe, no trick, could possibly convince any Esthar soldier to side with Seifer, murder his comrades, and speak Ultimecia's words before dying. Something was wrong.

Squall's thoughts returned to Rinoa. Wherever she was, whatever was going on, she was in danger. Something Squall didn't understand—couldn't understand—was happening. He got to his feet just as the elevator stirred to life again, bringing the dead soldier down to the lower level. Squall took several steps back from the elevator and, with one hand, charged up a death spell. If Seifer was going to send another puppet Esthar soldier, Squall would be ready.

(But I have to be careful.)

(If it's Rinoa or Ellone coming up…)

He cooled his nerves so that he wouldn't toss the spell until he was sure—absolutely sure—of who was on the elevator. He shut his eyes, focused, and breathed deeply through his nose. When he heard the elevator rising back up, he opened his eyes and braced himself for whatever was coming.

Once again, a single Esthar soldier appeared on the elevator, straddling the dead soldier between his feet. Squall raised the death spell and began the motion of pitching it forward. The soldier gasped and held up his hand.

"Whoa! Whoa!" the soldier said, holding his gun to the side. "Hold on a sec!"

Squall caught himself mid-throw and managed to recover the spell before it left his hand. He clenched his fist and allowed the death spell to dissipate, the black energy fading into nothing.

"Don't worry, Squall," the soldier said. He put his fingers at the bottom of his helmet and peeled it off. "It's just me."

The helmet slipped off in one smooth motion, revealing Seifer, grinning triumphantly. Squall jerked and tried to recover the death spell, but the energy had already dissipated and needed to be created again from the beginning. One-handed, Seifer brought his rifle to his waist and fired off a burst of bullets.

Squall rolled to the side, the bullets whizzing past his shoulder. He hit the hard metal floor at a bad angle and couldn't get his feet under him right away. He scrambled back into a kneeling position, looked up, and found himself staring down the barrel of Seifer's gun. Seifer sneered, and Squall froze.

(I can't believe he got the jump on me.)

"Now let's be reasonable, Squall," Seifer said smoothly. "I don't wanna kill ya. Not yet. I've got a few questions I'd like answered first."

Squall cursed under his breath as he considered his options. He could try to cast another spell, but the delay time was too long. Seifer would see it coming well before the spell was ready, and Squall would be full of holes before he could do any damage. He had slightly better odds if he tried to dodge away from the rifle, or if he swatted at Seifer's weapon with his gunblade, but still, both of those options were extremely risky at best. Seifer kept one pace away from Squall, close enough to be a threat, yet too far away for Squall to try to grab the gun away from him.

(He still remembers that from his training, I see.)

Squall realized that, just like back in the storage room with Ciel, it was best to just let him keep talking. Play on Seifer's arrogance and impatience and wait for an opening.

"What do you want?" Squall asked. He tensed, watching Seifer's eyes, watching his feet, watching where he was pointing the gun. One slip up, one moment of distraction, and Squall would pounce.

Seifer jerked his head to the side, his eyes meeting Squall's. "Toss your gunblade over here."

Squall frowned, but complied. Clenching his teeth, he gently tossed his gunblade underhand so that it clattered to the floor at Seifer's feet. He hoped that Seifer would be foolish enough to take his eyes of him and bend over to pick up the sword, giving Squall the opening he needed to wrest the rifle away.

But Seifer had apparently learned to be careful in the weeks since the two had last met. Seifer didn't even glance at the gunblade as it came to a stop at his feet. Instead, he planted one boot on the blade and kicked it to the far side of the bridge, out of reach of both of them.

"Atta boy," Seifer said, his gun still pointed at Squall. "So here's my question: what really happened back at the Lunatic Pandora?"

Squall narrowed his eyes.

(Does he mean our trip there a few days ago?)

"What do you mean?" Squall asked.

"After you offed Adel," Seifer said. "What'd ya guys do after that?"

(Why is he asking about that?)

"You should know the answer to that," Squall said. "We traveled through time and killed Ultimecia."

Seifer's expression was caught between mockery and hatred, a strange sneer of both contempt and rage. "Bull," he said. "Total fricken bull, Squall. I'll ask ya again nicely. What happened at Lunatic Pandora?"

Squall slowly shook his head. Seifer's emotions were visibly slipping, which could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Either Seifer would allow his feelings to get the better of him and drop his guard, or his rage would boil over and he'd shoot Squall, perhaps fatally. Sensing the danger, Squall chose his words carefully, while trying to avoid any sudden movements.

"Why don't you already know?" Squall asked. "You were there with us."

Seifer smirked. "Duh. I wasn't there, jackass. I did what Ultimecia said and then I bailed. She told me she needed Adel and Rinoa, so once I gave her both of 'em on a silver fricken platter, I took off. Figured my part was done. Met up with Fuge and Rage out near the front entrance and left."

(He's not telling me something.)

"How'd you get back?" Squall asked. He wasn't terribly interested in the answer, but anything that kept Seifer talking would increase the odds that Seifer would make a mistake. "The Esthar Plains were swarming with monsters after the Lunar Cry. Where did you go?"

"None of your business," Seifer said. "Let's just say me and my posse, we're pretty hard to kill."

Squall frowned. All that talking, and still Seifer had not revealed an opening.

(I have to keep trying.)

"I answered your question," Seifer said. "Now answer mine. What did you freaks do in the Pandora?"

"I already told you," Squall said.

Seifer sucked in a furious breath between clenched teeth. "And I already told you it's fricken bull!" He calmed himself after a moment, and then began nodding to himself, as if he suddenly realized a profound truth. "Yeah, I was right all along. You never killed Ultimecia. You couldn't. It's impossible. But you did kill Adel, and you stopped Ultimecia's plan. And then you thought you'd won because Ultimecia was quiet for a while. But you didn't know that she was just biding her time, waiting for the right moment."

(He's nuts.)

"Ultimecia is dead," Squall said. "I can prove—"

"You can't prove a damn thing!" Seifer said. "Ultimecia is the sorceress beyond time. What did you think you chumps were gonna do? You're nothing compared to her. You're just a damn idiot, Squall. A damn idiot."

"I don't care what you think," Squall said. "I know what actually happened in the Pandora. Ultimecia is—"

Once again, Seifer cut him off. "Ultimecia is down in the loading bay right now, rearranging your girlfriend's face! Prove that, you fricken moron!"

It was brief, just a flash, but in his fury and contempt, Seifer closed his eyes. Squall burst forward as if he was fired from a launcher and closed the gap between himself and Seifer in an instant. With one hand, he grabbed at the barrel of the gun and pushed it to the side. Seifer's hand reflexively clenched, squeezing the trigger and firing a line of bullets across the wall. Squall drove his free hand into Seifer's gut. The Esthar uniform's built-in body armor absorbed the worst of the hit, but Squall's junctioned strength still knocked the wind out of Seifer.

Seifer crumpled with a gasp but stayed on his feet. Squall yanked the gun out of Seifer's hands, then lost his grip on it. The gun went flying across the bridge, before landing harmlessly on the floor.

Faster than Squall could believe, Seifer dropped to the ground, rolled to the far side of the bridge, and snatched up Squall's gunblade. He swiped at the air to keep Squall at bay, clutching his bruised stomach with one hand and grinding his teeth.

Snarling like an animal, Seifer leapt to his feet, slashing wildly. But the balance and the handle of Squall's gunblade was different than Seifer's, and the delicate maneuvers Seifer had developed over years of practice proved incompatible when given a different weapon. He wielded Squall's gunblade like an amateur, the blade sailing in clumsy arcs and easily predictable patterns.

Squall stepped forward and allowed one slash to pass just over his shoulder. He ducked under the attack and drove his fist again into Seifer's stomach, stacking another layer of pain onto Seifer's midsection. Seifer grunted and spun, slashing blindly with the gunblade, but Squall was ready for it. He caught Seifer's hand midair, stopping his motion. Both men were caught in an arm-wrestling match, with Seifer trying to break free while Squall tried to pry his gunblade from Seifer's hand.

After a moment of struggling, it was clear that neither of them were going to tear the gunblade from the other. At the same time, both pulled one hand away and called up magic spells to finish the other off. Squall summoned a whirling black death spell, while Seifer chose a fiery red flare spell. In a moment's glance, Squall knew that his spell would be the first to finish gathering its power. The death spell was smaller and neater than the flare and required less energy. In that instant, he realized that he was going to kill Seifer. Finally, at long last, Seifer would not be bothering him or anyone else ever again.

(Seems kinda funny, actually.)

But Seifer did not patiently wait for his death. Instead, he drove the half-formed ball of fire and energy into Squall's stomach, where it detonated like a tiny bomb, hurling Squall across the bridge. His head slammed into the wall and his body fell hard against the backrest of one of the side seats, where the navigators and crew sat. He tumbled to the floor and rolled, surprised and in pain.

(I didn't know you could use magic like that.)

The flare spell had been incomplete, which was the only reason Squall was still alive. A fully charged flare would have incinerated Squall, as well as most of the bridge. But nowhere in his lessons had Squall ever been told that a half-formed spell still had some level of efficacy. According to SeeD doctrine, magic was an all-or-nothing prospect. You summoned the spell whole and then cast it, or you did nothing.

He snapped out of his thoughts in time to hear the whoosh of the gunblade as it cut through the air. Not sure of where the attack was coming from, Squall tucked his arms against his body and rolled. Seifer missed him by a fraction and hit the chair instead. He slashed the chair in half, pulling the trigger of the gunblade and filling the bridge with the echoing sound of its report.

Squall rolled again and felt something hard press into him. Without being able to see it, he recognized the shape. It was the gun that Seifer had brought into the bridge. He pulled it out from underneath his body and, still lying on the ground, brought the muzzle up and fired blindly towards where he'd last seen Seifer.

Seifer cursed and dodged to the side, the bullets missing him by hairs. But it gave Squall a moment to get his bearings. He saw Seifer move towards the front of the ship, just beside the dead pilot. Squall spun around and got his weight onto his lower back and spread his knees so he could fire between his legs. He pulled down hard on the trigger, spraying up and away from the control panels as much as he could.

The rifle clicked empty, and Squall began scooting backwards towards the elevator, readying himself for Seifer's inevitable counterattack.

But it didn't come.

Instead, Seifer stood, staring blankly at Squall. His mouth was open, his eyes glazed with shock. He tried to say something, but all that came out was a wet cough. Seifer looked down.

A red spot was growing in his stomach, soaking through the Esthar uniform.

"Gotta be…" Seifer said, his voice thick and watery. "…Kiddin' me."

He took one lurching step forward, then three backwards. He dropped Squall's gunblade on the floor. He collapsed into a sitting position, his back resting against the damaged control panel. Sparks leapt in all directions, but miraculously the ship continued to fly itself. The dead pilot slumped over and fell out of his seat, dropping heavily into Seifer's lap.

(I shot him.)

Squall quickly recovered his senses and realized that it was only a gut wound. There was no guarantee that it would be a fatal shot, and even if it was, it might take hours for Seifer to finally bleed out. Seifer was beaten, weakened, but he was not dead.

And that meant he was still a threat.

Squall dropped the empty rifle to the side and got to his feet. He picked up his gunblade and approached Seifer. Seifer was breathing heavily, in pained gasps. Still, his glare held the anger, the rage. It seemed that even in death, Seifer would never change his nature.

Squall raised his gunblade, ready to drive it through Seifer's heart.

(This is the end.)

"Bastard!" Seifer said. With one hand, he reached for the dead pilot in his lap and towards a hip-mounted pouch. Squall saw what he was reaching for, but too late to stop him. Attached to the pilot's waist was a small service pistol. Seifer drew it from its holster, raised it, and fired randomly, his shots going in all directions.

Squall reflexively rolled backwards. His left arm erupted in agony. His whole body cried out in pain as he hit the hard floor, Seifer's bullets still careening wildly in the bridge. A desperate, maddened panic took hold of Squall, and his only thought was to get away from the gunshots, get as far away as he could.

His left arm was limp and useless. Every movement tore through his body with new lances of pain. But still, he pushed himself backwards with one arm, away from the gunshots and onto the elevator. The dead soldier bumped into his back, and the elevator triggered automatically, sending Squall down to the lower level. Somehow, he had held his grip on his gunblade throughout the whole ordeal.

When the elevator stopped, Squall rolled over and tried to get to his knees. His vision went blurry and his stomach lurched. He dropped his gunblade on the floor and tried not to vomit. His right hand went to his left shoulder and his glove came back bloody and red. His head felt light and distant, as if he was floating away.

(Focus!)

(Cure!)

Squall reached into himself, trying to find the magic for the spell, but with the searing pain in his arm and the disorientation, he couldn't grasp it. He clenched his teeth and grunted, drawing on his anger and his pain to give him focus. Finally, he found his best cure spells, which he dumped into his shoulder.

Cool, green relief flooded into his arm. With the pain and the injury, he couldn't control the magic effectively. Much of the energy seeped into his lower arm and his body, going to waste, but Squall didn't care. The blinding agony relented somewhat, dimming down from unbearable to merely intense. He gathered his thoughts and cast another spell, then another. Each one mended the wound a little more, but it was still bleeding, still far from being healed.

A fiery explosion erupted from the boarding ramp. A woman cried out in pain. Squall recognized Rinoa's voice, and remembered what Seifer had said.

("Ultimecia is down in the loading bay right now, rearranging your girlfriend's face!")

"Rinoa," Squall choked out. His voice was weak and raspy.

The pain was still crippling him, but he refused to wait another second. He grabbed his gunblade with his right hand, his left arm dangling uselessly at his side, and stumbled to his feet. He gathered his willpower and put one foot in front of another, then repeated, and repeated, walking through the Ragnarok until he was at the door to the boarding ramp. The door opened automatically at his approach, and he pulled himself inside.

Rinoa, Ciel, and several dead Esthar guards were inside. Rinoa was huddled in the far corner, curled into a defensive ball, her legs drawn up to her body and her arms covering her head. She was using all her energy to form a thin pink shield around herself. Snarling with fury, Ciel launched bolt after bolt of lightning at the shield, shaking the walls of the boarding ramp and filling the air with the scent of smoke and ozone.

She turned when the door opened and saw Squall standing there. She snarled as he stumbled determinedly towards her. He weakly raised his gunblade with one arm, the metal tip wavering in the air. Ciel curled her lip in contempt.

(I'll protect you… Rinoa.)

"All SeeD must perish!" Ciel snarled. With a backhand motion, she fired a strike of pure white energy at Squall. There was no time to dodge and in his near delirious state, he'd forgotten to cast protective spells around himself. Given no other options, he threw his good arm across his head and focused on summoning his Guardian Force Quezacotl.

The energy of the lightning GF instantaneously encased him, surrounded him, and protected him. Although the GF had not completely formed yet, it absorbed the worst of Ciel's attack and was blown apart by the fury of the strike. Quezacotl did not die—Guardian Forces could never truly die—but the energy that bound the GF together into one being was scattered like leaves in the wind. It would take a considerable amount of specialized magic potions—or a great deal of time spent waiting—for the GF to become whole and useable again. Squall would not be able to do that trick a second time.

The residual energy of the spell knocked Squall to the floor. His shoulder cried out in pain, but he ignored his own suffering and turned towards Rinoa. She was there in the corner, still alive.

(At least she's okay.)

Ciel screamed in animal fury. "Wretched SEED!"

She raised her hand for another attack, when suddenly Rinoa got to her knees and shoved forward with both hands. A wind spell burst from her splayed fingers and filled the room with a small hurricane. It caught Ciel unaware and hurled her against the wall of the boarding ramp. Her head snapped hard against the metal, and she fell to her knees on the floor, stunned, but alive.

Squall got to his feet. There was no time for him to call any magic, and his GF would be out of commission until he was given a break to tend to it. His gunblade was his last available weapon. He raised it up, the point angled towards Ciel, and began marching towards her, hoping to reach her with a killing blow before she recovered.

"Squall, look out!" Rinoa gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

Squall felt something hit him in the back. His torso twitched unusually.

Then again.

Squall's ears were ringing, and he couldn't figure out why. He lowered his gunblade down to his side and looked at his body.

Two red dots were forming on his chest. There were ragged holes in his shirt.

(Am I…)

"Not this time, Squall," Seifer whispered, his voice behind Squall's ear. He fired another shot, and Squall's chest leapt with the impact. "Not this time."

Squall's mouth filled with water. But the water was thick, and tasted rusty. He felt the strength ooze from his legs. He tried to sit down—he felt so tired all of a sudden—but instead he collapsed on his side. His gunblade fell to the floor. The metal was hard and cold, and he could feel the chill soaking into him. All around him, the world was growing fuzzy dark edges. Rather than being frightened by it all, Squall found himself drawn towards the gathering darkness.

(Tired…)

He closed his eyes.

Somewhere outside of him, somewhere far away, he could hear screaming.

Who was it?

(It doesn't matter.)

(Nothing matters.)

The darkness crept over him in a wave. He could see the darkness, even with his eyes shut. It seemed cold, but welcoming at the same time. There were more noises. Shouting, it sounded like. Magic. Fighting? Maybe, but he couldn't be sure. All he knew was that the fighting was far, far away, and it couldn't touch him where he was. In the cold and the emptiness, he was safe from everything.

(So tired.)

He relaxed his body, and embraced the darkness.

End of Disc 2

Please insert Disc 3