Part 1

Chapter 1: The Visitor

Seifer pocketed his Gil and headed home. What was supposed to be a week-long fishing venture ended up taking little more than a day. They had been hired out by an upscale Galbadian catering company to catch an obscenely large amount of Galbadian redfin- a notoriously elusive fish- for some fancy upcoming gala that was being held in Deling City. They cruised around the upper peninsula and followed Raijin's sea sense deep into the Galbadian Ocean where they came across a huge redfin boil. Some hours later saw their contract fulfilled and they headed back to the coast to deliver the payload, before collecting their bonus and heading back to Balamb Harbor.

It was just around 3 years ago that Seifer, Raijin and Fujin had been at these very docks, trying to fill their now open days with something a little less destructive than what they had previously been up to. Raijin had just managed to pull himself out of the water when an old man with a brown bucket hat approached them with a surprisingly scathing comment about their fishing skills and a challenge to outdo him. Seifer had just said, "You're on, old man." And the rest was history.

They never did outdo him as it turned out the old man was a legendary fishing master but they learned a lot from him that day and many days thereafter. They didn't know it at the time, but that first day on the docks was when the old man had decided that this group of outcasts were the ones worthy of bestowing his considerable knowledge on and would assist him in creating his legacy. They may not have had the skills but their tenacity and willingness to learn were there in spades.

His legacy, as they would soon discover, was to build a cutting-edge fishing vessel the likes of which had never been seen before. The Event Horizon he called it. After a series of what they thought were temporary jobs they ultimately came on to crew the boat for him full-time. Though they were the only ones actually under his employ, the Posse refused to call him Boss, leaving that to all the other groveling fools. To them, he was just known as the old man. Seifer suspected that's what made him like them.

Once the boat was complete the old man was pretty hands off. This had merely been a layover for him on his way to Shumi Village. Something about getting out of FH before it was overrun with Galbadian warmongers since the bridge had recently reopened. Occasionally he would have the crew pick him up for a joyride to make sure they were taking good care of his baby and that they were putting his expertise to good use.

His one stipulation was that they take his young fishing pupil on during the summers so he could continue to hone his fishing skills. Seifer was put out at first because the kid was so young and prone to breaking things. The idea became less objectionable once he realized that the kid was the only one left in the world who actually looked at him with any sort of admiration.

This arrangement had been extremely beneficial for all parties involved. The old man taught them everything he could about fishing and a fraction of what he knew about engineering. More importantly though he gave them a way of life and a sense of purpose. Gruff though he could be, he became one of the few positive role models in their lives. Particularly for Seifer, the old man had been a guiding light, whether directly or indirectly, at a time when he needed it the most.

Each member of the Posse was really coming into their own. Raijin was the best fisherman among them with an innate understanding of fish's habits and the patterns of the ocean. "That's that island instinct." The old man had said. Seifer had tried to argue that he, too, had grown up on Balamb Island but the old man had decisively put that to bed. "You mean Balamb Garden? That quarantined biodome of a bubble away from society that you need special permission to enter or leave? All they teach you there is how to kill. You may as well have grown up on a different planet. You don't even have the same accent as the people from Balamb." Sei looked utterly eviscerated but never one to go down easily, he stubbornly persisted. "I lived on a beach in Centra before that." The old man looked unmoved. "Do a lot of fishing there, did ya?" The last remnants of Seifer's confidence collapsed. "We… hunted for crabs. And fireworks mostly." He mumbled the bit about the fireworks, before pursuing a different course. "But Fujin's lived in Balamb Town her whole life too!" The old man dismissed that just as easily. "That's completely different! What Raijin's got is generations of native knowledge in his bones!" Raijin had never looked more proud, and more afraid to show it.

Fujin had become the ship's pilot and a wicked one at that. Initially, the old man had objected to having a one-eyed pilot operating his dream boat but after multiple test rides, she had him convinced. "I guess when you throw around a spinning wheel of death for a living your brain learns to develop depth perception. Unless that's how you lost the eye in the first place. But regardless, you're hired. The other two don't have the patience or attention-span for this." He added a few extra mirrors and screens to help with her blind spots but other than that, she was good to go. Lately, however, her grandmother's health had taken a turn for the worse leaving her bedridden, so Fujin wanted to stay home and take care of her while continuing to work the books. They had posted some ads for a new pilot and were currently in the process of interviewing/hazing their prospective candidates. The hazing was mainly coming from Raijin, who didn't want to see Fujin go.

But it was Seifer who had grown the most during this time, though it could be argued he had the most growing to do. He focused all his efforts on becoming an expert shipbuilder, fisherman and sea voyager and was able to save up enough money to purchase a house of his own on a quiet road a little ways outside of town. House was a generous term as it was little more than a shack when he bought it but apparently Seifer saw something in it that his friends did not, though they supported him all the same.

Over the course of a year Seifer poured his heart and soul into turning that pile of lumber into something he could call home. Virtually all his downtime was spent measuring, cutting, hammering, installing, plumbing, painting and whatever else the job required. Raijin and even Fujin on occasion would help when more than one pair of hands was necessary but mainly it was Seifer's own blood, sweat and tears that went into the building of this house. The finished product was a cozy cliffside bungalow, worthy of any lifestyle magazine cover.

It was deep into the night when Seifer walked up the front steps of said bungalow and unlocked the door, entering the small foyer. He couldn't wait to head upstairs where a hot shower and a warm bed awaited him. It had been a long and lucrative day and he was eager to get the smell of fish off him. These thoughts came to an abrupt halt when he spotted a figure in the middle of his living room. The intruder was clad all in black and wore a balaclava with a tinted face mask rendering all features completely indiscernible, but he could tell by the silhouette that it was a woman.

Both figures froze for a fraction of a second before they sprang into action, Seifer dropping his duffel bag and lunging for the stranger as she headed towards the open window, which seemed to have been her point of entry. She grasped the window frame and was about to pull herself through when Seifer grabbed the top of her hood with one hand and yanked her back inside. Gripping his hand to keep her balaclava on, the intruder latched her feet around Seifer's head and jerked him forward, slamming his face into the window pane.

Seifer cursed and the stranger took that moment to roll out of the way and make a break for the now-unguarded front door. 'A professional, huh?' He thought as he rubbed his forehead. He used his length to close the distance and tackled her to the floor. She grabbed his abandoned bag and threw it at him. He swatted it away easily only to be immediately met with a boot to the chin. His head snapped back for an instant before he righted it and charged forward once more. The music in his head had just gone from a jaunty piano tune to full-blown heavy metal. He had always heard battle music when he was in a fight but he had never questioned whether it was his own whimsical musings or just brain damage.

He held no delusions about being able to avoid damage entirely but the flailing legs of his opponent were presenting him with a bit of a problem and he wouldn't soon forget that shot to the chin. She was quick and relentless in her onslaught, using all the right moves to keep him from closing the distance. Just when he thought he could get a hold of her she would twist away and present him with a new puzzle to solve. It was like trying to wrestle an angry torama.

Seifer was a bit rusty after not having seen any real combat during the last few years but all the familiar feelings and adrenaline surged up to the surface. He missed the way battle cleared his head. It was exhilarating and sobering all at once. He managed to grab hold of one leg and after a few more kicks to his body he was able to get the other one under control. Now he could pin her down and put a stop to this nonsense.

He had every intention of seeing this plan through but it was clear his assailant had other ideas. She grabbed hold of his collar and used her feet to catapult him over her head. He came crashing down heavily and skidded into a side table, knocking over a lamp which would've hit the floor if Seifer's head hadn't broken its fall. Now this was just getting embarrassing. He looked murderously at the lamp before ripping it out of the wall and hurling it at the intruder's retreating form. He scrambled to his feet and chased after her.

The intruder was almost to the window when Seifer push-kicked his armchair at her, felling her like a chopped tree. She barely turned in time to see him dive over the chair and slam her into the wall beneath the window. He heard her grunt through the face mask with some satisfaction but the fight wasn't over yet. She overhooked one of his arms and put him in a guillotine while wrapping both legs around his torso in a body triangle.

Seifer rolled around on the ground a bit to get her to loosen her holds but to no avail. He came to standing and tried shaking her off with the help of gravity but she only squeezed tighter. Running out of options he squared up like he was getting ready to charge and rammed her back into the wall once, twice, three times before she finally let go of his head with a moan but there was still no sign of her legs budging as they tightened around him like an anacondaur. Fuck, this was getting hard to breathe.

To return the favor, he grabbed her by the throat while his other hand tried to crowbar her legs open. Each of his hands were accompanied by one of hers in the fight for total domination. He tried holding her at arm's length to stretch her out and get her to release his waist but even with his hand around her neck the bitch wasn't letting go.

When she couldn't pry his fingers off from around her neck she brought the other hand up to assist, hoping that two on one would increase her odds of not being choked to death. Bingo. Seifer saw his opportunity and with the hand that was trying to get her legs open, he grabbed the top of her balaclava and yanked it off, revealing long blond hair beneath.

"Quistis- what the fuck?!" He was stunned as he looked into the familiar blue eyes of his former instructor, which under the current circumstances were bloodshot and bulging out of her head. He released his hold on her throat and she unwrapped her legs from around his waist, giving them both a chance to breathe properly now. Before he could get any type of answer though she turned around and dove out the window headfirst, finally making her exit. He looked on in dumbfounded silence, all the fight gone out of him. He went to the window in time to watch her getting into an unmarked vehicle that appeared out of nowhere and peel off down the road in a cloud of dust.

Seeing the dent in his window pane, Seifer slammed the window shut angrily, remembering why his face hurt. He turned around and looked at the aftermath of their encounter. Knocked over furniture, a broken lamp, a few craters in the walls where he had slammed her. He didn't know what to make of any of it. Was it a burglary? She clearly wasn't there to kill him but what could she have possibly been after? Did he catch her on the way in or the way out? Had she got what she came for? Or maybe she was trying to plant something. He had so many questions but he decided that he was too tired and dirty to give a fuck and that he'd worry about it the morning. He locked everything up- the fat lot of good that did- grabbed his duffel bag and headed upstairs. They could come back and ransack the house in his sleep for all he cared.

Author's Note:

This is supposed to be a 3-part story and I would normally like to have more completed before I start posting but I wanted to get it in time for the Seiftis Forever Festival 2024. It may never have been posted otherwise. Please review and let me know what you think!