![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batsutousaiTitle: Sins of Our Young
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Betas: Shara Lunison/tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhir
Chapters: 7 of 10
Rating: T
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, hints of Quistis/Rinoa
Warnings: AU, minor canon-fuckery, Rinoa bashing, minor Quisty bashing
Summary: How the game could have gone if the writers weren't on crack and so set on everyone being straight.
-0-0-0-
Sins of Our Tongue
-0-0-0-
Seifer woke slowly. He was, surprisingly, free of pain. There also wasn't anyone smacking him awake or the sounds of Edea's twisting laughing. 'Ultimecia,' he reminded himself. She'd always insisted he call her that while it was just them. Didn't know why. Didn't much care, either.
'I wonder where Squall is now...' he mused, mind changing over to his favourite topic: Wondering about Squall, believing the younger teen would eventually catch up and kill Edea–
Coldly determined grey-blue eyes...the cracking of glass...ice on steel...
Seifer's eyes snapped opened and he stared up at the familiar ceiling of Balamb Garden's infirmary, disbelief and relief warring in his chest. 'Squall saved me...'
The main infirmary door slid opened and a quiet voice asked, "Doctor Kadowaki?"
"What can I do for you?" the good doctor asked and her voice sent fond relief shooting through Seifer; if the ceiling hadn't assured him he was safe, her voice would have.
"Uhm, I was told I could find the Commander here... Is...is he...okay?"
"He's not a patient, if that's what you're asking," Kadowaki replied with amused exasperation. "Is it vital that he come now, or can it wait another hour or two?"
"The Esthar party is back, and they have the Sorceress with them."
Kadowaki sighed and her chair creaked as she stood. "I see. One moment." Her light steps approached Seifer's room and the blond glanced around the room, trying to spot this mysterious 'Commander' that would visit him.
'Squall?' he wondered, catching sight of the other gunblader curled uncomfortably in the only chair in the room. 'Why is he here?'
"Squa–" Kadowaki started before her eyes caught open green. "Seifer!"
The body in the chair jerked and Squall's head snapped up. He stared back at Seifer for a moment, relief flashing in tired eyes before he masked it. "You're awake," he murmured, voice rough from sleep.
"You're not supposed to wake up until this evening," Kadowaki complained, hurrying forward and touching Seifer's cheek. "How do you feel? Any pain?"
Seifer blinked up at her and shook his head. "Ah–" he croaked, only to frown when he realised his throat was too dry for human sounds.
"I'll be right back," Kadowaki bustled, heading through the small doorway. "And don't get out of that bed."
Seifer felt fondness for the doctor warm his heart again and he looked back over at Squall with a smile.
Squall snorted. "You've been here for a week," he supplied to the unasked question. "Kadowaki decided to keep you in a coma so you didn't attempt one of your infamous escape attempts before all your wounds healed."
Seifer blinked at that, then peeked down his shirt. Healthy pink skin had grown over the large patch of burns on his left side and all of the nasty little cuts he'd received that had been left to fester had healed over. Even the wounds from the ice pikes Ultimecia so favoured had been healed, though they were unnaturally pale, compared to the rest of his skin.
Kadowaki bustled back in, the probable owner of the uncertain voice from before following with careful steps. "Slowly," Kadowaki ordered as she handed a cup with a straw over to Seifer.
Seifer obediently took a slow sip, smirking around the straw at her.
"C-Commander?" the uncertain girl in the doorway asked.
Squall's head jerked around. "Yes?"
Seifer pulled his mouth away from the straw before he choked: Squall was the Commander? Commander of what?
"The Esthar party is back, and they have the Sorceress."
Squall's eyes hardened and he unfolded his legs from under him, one hand reaching for his boots. "Are they in Garden yet?" he asked in an authoritative voice that Seifer didn't recognise.
"No, sir. One of the FH boys spotted them a bit out and sent warning. They should be here in another ten minutes."
Squall nodded. "Thank you, Cadet. Has Cid been warned?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Please let him know."
"Yes, sir." The girl saluted, then hurried out.
"Commander?" Seifer croaked as Squall stood.
"I leave him in your capable hands," Squall offered Kadowaki as he started out.
"There's a plate of toast on my desk!" Kadowaki called after him.
"Whatever," Squall called back, but his footsteps changed course just enough to pass within grabbing range of the doctor's desk before leaving out the main entrance.
"Commander?" Seifer croaked to Kadowaki.
The doctor sighed and dropped into the chair Squall had just vacated. "A lot has happened," she offered. "Sip your water and I'll tell you what I can..."
-0-
"Welcome back," Cid said as the group stepped down from the crane onto the second floor deck, Zell helping Edea down. Squall stood next to the Headmaster with sharp eyes and two armed SeeDs stood behind the two leaders, only necessary because Squall no longer carried Revolver around. He'd doubted there would be any trouble that couldn't be handled with his knives, but he also knew that overestimating his skills could very well get him killed, especially after a week of sitting behind a paper-covered desk and no training.
"I'm no longer a Sorceress," Edea explained, getting right to the heart of the matter.
"No longer a Sorceress?" Squall asked, frowning. "How would that work? Once a Sorceress, always a Sorceress until death."
"Odine believes Ultimecia may have forced the magic from Matron to have better control over who received it," Selphie explained, expression troubled. "There were only three other women in that room, and I already know I didn't get them. So that leaves Angelica and–"
"Fuck," Squall swore before turning and hurrying from the deck. 'Rinoa. My nausea's always been the worst in the mornings, just after leaving the infirmary. I didn't even think about it. And Seifer's in–' Squall swallowed. 'She hasn't done anything to him yet, and he's been defenceless. She wouldn't do anything now that he's awake.'
"Squall! Wait!" Selphie shouted as he stepped into the lift. She was pelting down the hallway, Irvine and Zell following at a slightly more reasonable pace. Squall held the door just so he wouldn't have to worry about her running head-long into it after it had closed.
"What's the hurry?" Irvine asked as they all piled in.
"Rinoa's in the infirmary," Squall reported tightly as he ran his emergency pass to speed the lift up. "Every time I've been in there since you three left, I've felt sick. I didn't even think about it."
"You sure it's her?" Zell asked uncertainly.
"Yes." Squall stepped quickly from the lift as soon as the doors opened, breezing past saluting cadets and SeeDs without seeing them.
"Seifer's in there, too," Selphie suggested as the three hurried after the Commander. "If Ultimecia really jumped into Rinoa, she's had unfettered access to him for a week."
"Other than the times Squall's been sleeping at his bedside," Irvine muttered, still amused to have found out that the stoic Commander had been sitting vigil over the ex-Knight's bedside whenever he wasn't in meetings. Selphie had mentioned it to them on their way to Esthar and Edea had been delighted to hear that the two rivals were so close.
Squall practically slammed into the infirmary, voice sharp as he ordered the guard, "We're moving Miss Heartilly to solitary. If you would be so kind as to–"
The sound of a gun firing ripped through the air and it was only Squall's battle-trained reflexes that saved him from a shot to the head. Instead, the bullet grazed the side of his head and nicked the top of his left ear.
"Squall!" Selphie shouted, grabbing his arm even as Zell dashed past the Commander and laid the guard out flat with a hard left hook to the jaw.
"What is going on out here?" Kadowaki demanded, stepping out of Seifer's room with a hard look.
"Zell, stop," Squall ordered before the blond SeeD could pummel the guard to death. "He's being controlled by Ultimecia. Get Rinoa down to solitary. Now. Selphie, I'm fine," he added as the small SeeD brushed his hair gently out of the way of the bullet wound, trying to get a good look at the damage.
Zell clenched his fists, furious, but stalked into Rinoa's room, slung the inert form roughly over one shoulder, and started back towards the door out.
"Squall!" Selphie called again when the Commander stumbled to one side, out of the path of the possessed Sorceress as her magic clawed at his skin, making his stomach jump into his throat.
Squall looked up at Rinoa in time to see her eyes open and staring at him, glowing golden. His stomach heaved again and he realised he couldn't break her gaze.
Then a large hand fell over his eyes and Seifer rasped, "Hit her with a Sleep spell, Kinneas."
The tingle of para-magic touched the air and the oppressing sense of Sorceress magic let up, leaving Squall shaking and sick. He couldn't help but relax back when Seifer's other arm wrapped around his abdomen in a silent offer of support.
"Squall, are you okay?" Selphie whispered after the infirmary door had slid shut behind Zell and Irvine.
Squall took a deep breath and nodded, standing straight. "I'm fine."
Seifer's arm fell reluctantly from around Squall and the hand over his eyes slipped around to pull the hair away from where the bullet had hit. "You're a liar," Seifer whispered, carefully pulling some blood-coated hair out of the graze. "And your reflexes have gone to shit while I was gone."
"Seifer, back in bed," Kadowaki snapped as she pulled some cotton pads and potion from a cupboard. "Squall, sit somewhere so I can look at that."
"It's fi–"
"I think I'll be the judge of that," the doctor declared. "Seifer, bed."
Squall batted the hands away from his wound, then turned and half pushed, half followed Seifer back into the ex-Knight's room. Seifer climbed obediently back onto the bed while Squall dropped into the chair and suffered Kadowaki's gentle prodding.
Selphie leaned on the end of Seifer's bed. "It's good to see you up," she offered. "We were all really worried."
"You were worried about me?" Seifer asked, eyes wide with mock surprise. His voice was rough from disuse, but sounded stronger with every word. "Now, why would a couple of unscrupulous SeeDs worry about a naughty Sorceress' Knight like me?"
"Ex-Sorceress' Knight," Squall insisted.
Selphie smiled. "Of course we'd be worried about you! You were a mess when we found you, and Squall was so worried he's been sleeping–"
"Selphie," Squall growled.
"Squally," Selphie chirped.
"Don't worry, Leonhart, I already knew you were a big softie inside," Seifer teased, green eyes glinting with pleasure at having the chance to tease the stoic teen once again. He sobered quickly, however. "Kadowaki gave me the abridged version; Ultimecia is possessing Rinoa?"
"Apparently," Squall agreed drily as Kadowaki leaned back, wounds healed.
"Matron lost her Sorceress powers during the battle," Selphie explained. "I hadn't received them and Squall said he's felt sick every time he's been in the infirmary, where Rinoa was being kept."
"What?" Kadowaki grabbed the Commander's chin in an iron grip and forced him to look up at her. "If you're feeling sick, you're supposed to tell me."
"And be forced into a bed?" Squall snapped. "I have too much work–"
"You'd get more work done if you were in top form, you idiot child!"
"Are we interrupting something?" Irvine wondered with a grin as he and Zell joined the crowd in Seifer's room. He tipped his hat to the ex-Knight, offering, "Good to see you up, Seifer."
"Still think you're some sort of bull-wrangling cowboy?" Seifer shot back with a smirk. "Tut, tut, Kinneas." His eyes darted to the blond standing at the cowboy's shoulder while Irvine laughed. "Chicken-wuss! I've missed your chocobo's ass hairstyle!"
"Oh, fuck you," Zell replied heatedly.
"Doctor K's just telling Squally off for putting his paperwork above his health," Selphie said to Irvine's question.
Squall turned sharp eyes to the two men in front of the door. "Would Esthar be able to seal her?" he demanded in what Seifer had mentally dubbed his 'Commander Voice'.
"Yeah." Zell nodded. "They asked us to find the Sorceress and drag her in, actually." He snorted. "They really don't like the idea of another Sorceress running around."
Squall nodded. "I'm sorry to ask you three back out again after just getting home, but would you be willing to take Rinoa to Esthar?"
The three teens traded looks which sent warning bells ringing in Squall's head. "Well, the thing is," Irvine started very carefully, "it's not really an easy trip, and three of us with an unwilling Sorceress just isn't going to cut it–"
Squall narrowed his eyes. "I can send a couple more SeeDs with you."
"Mediocre SeeDs?" Irvine returned. "No, no. Against a Sorceress like Ultimecia, we're going to need the best."
"Our six best SeeDs are in Galbadia right–"
"I'm talking about the one who's been warming a chair," Irvine interrupted.
Squall's jaw clenched. "I have too much work–"
"Squally, listen," Selphie pleaded quietly and the Commander's mouth snapped shut. The young woman tugged at the bottom of her dress in a nervous gesture before offering, "This Sorceress is from the future, right? So she's probably seen most of SeeD's best tricks multiple times over. Moreover, she's probably got a pretty good idea of how we work, after possessing both Matron and Rinoa and fighting us twice and then whatever she got from Seifer." The blond ex-Knight looked away. "We need to be able to out-think her, and you're the best at thinking on your feet."
"I want to take Seifer, too, if Doctor Kadowaki will release him," Irvine added.
"Huh?" Seifer looked up at the cowboy, obviously confused.
Irvine shot him a tight smile. "You know this Sorceress. You've worked with her and watched her take over Galbadia Garden. If anyone can make a guess at what she might try, it'll be you."
Seifer shook away memories of being pinned to a wall with ice pikes. "Don't go expecting too much of me, Kinneas."
Kadowaki sighed. "Seifer needs another couple days of bed rest before you take him off to Esthar." Then she pinned a scowling Squall with a sharp look. "And you, Commander Leonhart, need a proper night's rest in a proper bed. Not in a chair."
"Or on the floor!" Selphie added with a bright smile for the dark look Squall sent her.
"Why were you sleeping on the floor?" Zell asked, blinking in surprise.
"I stole his bed."
Zell gave the small SeeD a disbelieving look. "Why were you in Squall's bed?"
"Because it smells like him," Selphie replied matter-of-factly.
"You and the messenger girl?" Seifer asked Squall. "Seriously?"
"And I wonder why people think we're dating," Squall muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. "Selphie, censor yourself. Please."
Selphie laughed with a nervous smile. "Oops?"
Squall sighed and shook his head. "Doctor Kadowaki, has anyone other than the guards I set visited Rinoa? Specifically anyone who's been in here more than once."
Kadowaki frowned in thought. "I've had a couple of cadets in here more than once, but none of them got particularly close to her. You and Seifer have been the only regulars in here... Wait! Quistis was in here a number of times, talking to her."
Squall's head shot up and he looked at the group in the doorway. "She should be in Garden somewhere," he told them. "Zell, go find her for me."
Zell saluted. "You got it, Squall."
"Irvine," Squall continued as the blond fighter left, "find Cid and Matron and let them know about Rinoa and our intention to leave for Esthar with her in four days. Also, please tell Cid I need to see him in my office in three hours."
"Consider it done," Irvine agreed. He tipped his hat at them all before turning to leave.
"Four days?" Seifer wondered before Squall could give any further instructions.
"Two days for you to be stuck in a bed, two days for you to get some training in," Squall reported, not looking away from Selphie. "Go report to Angelica about everything that's happened so far, assuming she hasn't hunted Cid down and beat it out of him already."
Selphie grinned fondly at the thought of her old Headmistress. "Sure thing." She smiled at Seifer. "See you around, Seify."
" 'Seify'?" Seifer repeated, torn between amusement and disbelief. "Seriously?"
Selphie stuck her tongue out at him playfully, then danced from the room.
Squall turned to Doctor Kadowaki. "Can you see to the guard that's out there right now?"
"Certainly. I don't know what I can do for him if he's still being controlled by the Sorceress..."
"We can throw him in solitary if it comes to it, but I'm hoping the magic lock will sever her ties to anyone she's got her magic into."
"It might not," Seifer murmured as Kadowaki started out. "It depends on how long she's been working on them and how badly she wanted to keep them. The guards should be fine, even if they've been near her for a week, unless she really wanted one of them. You said you've been feeling sick around her?"
Squall nodded. "For approximately four days."
Seifer raised an impressed eyebrow. "How sick? Like, just a mild headache, or...?"
Squall pressed his lips together tightly, but allowed, "To my stomach. I've thrown up five times."
"Squall!" Kadowaki shouted in irritation, proving she was still listening even though she'd left the room.
Seifer shook his head, even more impressed. "It's a reaction to refusing her magic. I threw up twice, after the missile base. She got tired of trying to win me back after a day, though. Thinking about disobeying her would give me a headache, but actually fighting her made me physically ill."
Squall accepted that explanation with some relief – it hadn't been a sign of his own weakness, then – but he still hated that he'd been sick at all. "You think she's been so focussed on me that she wouldn't have spent much time getting control of anyone else?"
"Basically. It would be hard to control anyone in Garden, anyway, unless they already had some sympathy for Ultimecia or Rinoa. The only people with even a passing familiarity with Rinoa were either unconscious–" Seifer raised his own hand with a faint smile, "–already fighting her off, or out of her reach."
Squall frowned. "Except for Quistis. Do you know how long it would take for her to gain control of Quistis?"
Seifer shook his head. "Depends on what their relationship was, how interested in using her Ultimecia was, how much magic she was putting towards trying to control someone else, how defensive against Sorceress magic Quistis was..." He shrugged. "Anywhere from a week to a couple hours. I know it took her almost three days to win Rinoa over, and that was with all of her attention turned on someone unwilling. With her so focussed on you, everyone else should be okay."
Squall grunted and stood. "Now all I have to figure out is why she was so focussed on me."
"Uhm, SeeD Commander?" Seifer commented, rolling his eyes. "About three quarters of Garden has been crushing on you since you were twelve, Squally, and you are so Rinoa's type."
"What does that have anything to do with it?"
Seifer dropped his face into his hands in a classic Squall gesture. "Oh, hit puberty already, would you? You're embarrassing me."
Squall snorted and stepped from the room to check on Kadowaki and the downed guard. "So?"
Kadowaki sighed. "I don't know how I'd even check for Sorceress control, but I healed his jaw."
Squall nodded. "Strap him to the bed and leave him until he wakes on his own. I'll have someone check in with the other two guards and see how they are, but there's a chance that he's still being controlled even if they aren't. Send a runner to let me know how he is when he wakes up."
"Certainly. You'll be in your office?"
"Yes." He started for the door out.
"Squall," Kadowaki called, a note of warning in her tone. When the Commander paused next to the door, she continued, "if I find out you didn't get some real sleep tonight, you'll spend the next two days on bed rest. Sedated, if I must."
"Noted," Squall replied evenly, then stalked from the room.
Kadowaki sighed and poked her head into Seifer's room. "Hungry?"
Seifer grinned. "And bored. You got anything to read in here?"
The doctor snorted. "Medical texts."
Seifer considered that for a moment. "I'll take it."
Kadowaki shook her head, but left to gather him something to read and order them both something to eat.
-0-
"Squall?" Zell asked, poking his head through the door with a troubled expression.
Squall waved for him to come in, not looking up from his paperwork. "Did you find Quistis?"
Zell shook his head. "No. She seems to have vanished sometime overnight. But..." He hesitated for a moment, then said, "She's been spreading rumours. That Seifer was the one who tortured you in D-District."
Squall's hand froze mid-way through his signature, hair obscuring the tightening of his mouth.
Zell took his silence as affirmation and snapped, "That fucking bastard!"
Squall carefully set his pen down before he could accidentally snap it and calmly enquired, "How long have you known Cadet Addams? Twelve years?"
Zell blinked, surprised out of his anger at the apparent non sequitur. "Jason? Yeah, sure, twelve, thirteen years. He lived right next door to us in Balamb."
Squall nodded. "And have you even known him to act violently towards a person in a position of authority? For any reason?" He glanced up, quicksilver eyes sharp with dark knowledge.
Zell felt a bit like he was being backed into a corner. "No, never. Why would..." He trailed off when he finally realised that the guard he'd laid out in the infirmary had been Jason. "Oh, fuck."
Squall returned his attention back down to his paperwork, carefully picking his pen back up. "We only got back onto a proper dock yesterday; see if one of the security staff at the front gate saw her leaving. Alternately, check through the security footage on the second floor deck. Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll have been caught by that camera."
Zell swallowed. "Why didn't you tell us?" he wanted to know.
Squall frowned down at his paperwork. "I knew how you'd react." He glanced up at the blond, eyes hard. "I want to know how long Quistis has been gone."
Zell nodded and turned to leave. He was halfway out the door before he paused to ask, "What are you going to do about the rumours? I mean, everyone already knows that Seifer's a jerk, so it's not too hard to imagine him doing something like that, you know?"
Squall sighed and rubbed a finger along his scar. "What do you expect me to do, Zell? Deny the truth? Try to explain the control a Sorceress can bring to bear on her servants? Everyone knows he went with her willingly, and him blowing up that missile base only means so much. Seifer won't want their sympathy, anyway." He glanced tiredly up at the blond in the doorway. "As long as no one tries attacking him in the building, there's little I can do; they'll believe whatever they wish to believe." He returned to his paperwork, signalling the end of the conversation.
Zell slipped out of the office and started towards the lift, hands in his pockets. He had never liked Seifer, and he really wasn't surprised that the bastard had tortured Squall – whether he was being controlled by Ultimecia or not at the time hardly mattered – but when he tried to hate the bastard for it, he remembered him in that tiny container, death literally hanging over his head. He remembered the list of injuries Selphie had whispered to them over a fire during their journey to Esthar, the tears Matron had cried for the terrible things she'd done to one of her own children.
'Maybe he's a real fucking bastard, but no one deserves the hell he went through. If anyone has any right to hold that against him, it's Squall, and he's clearly forgiven the bastard. And he is a bastard, but he saved all our asses and almost died for it. I'm never going to like him, but I'm not going to stand back and watch his name get dragged through the mud for something he may or may not have willingly done.'
"Hey, Zell?" Selphie called as the opening lift doors revealed her, a note of uncertainty in her voice.
"Hey, Selph. What's wrong?" he asked, pasting on a strained smile.
Selphie bit her bottom lip. "I just heard a really nasty rumour about Seifer."
Zell's heart fell and he pressed her back into the lift, following her and pressing the button to close the doors. "About D-District?"
Selphie nodded, looking sick. "It can't be true," she whispered.
Zell shook his head. "Squall said it was."
"Why didn't he tell us?!"
Zell let out a strained laugh. "You know Squall, he wouldn't tell us if he was two days from dying of a painful illness and in screaming agony all day." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "He was protecting us. And Seifer, I think. He, uhm...he sort of implied that Seifer was being forced to do it against his will, but I'm not sure how true that is, knowing Seifer. But..."
Selphie hugged herself. "It's not fair. People were just getting used to thinking that Seifer isn't such a bad guy, and now they're back to thinking he's even more of a jerk than they thought before. And he's not. I mean, okay," she amended at Zell's disbelieving look, "he's kind of a jerk, but he's not wilfully cruel. Not like that rumour is painting him. We... Can't we do anything?"
Zell turned eyes dark with anger on Seifer's behalf to the floor of the lift. "I don't know. Squall's not even going to try..."
Selphie chewed her bottom lip for a long minute before reaching past Zell's shoulder to press the button for the first floor. "We can combat that stupid rumour."
"How?" Zell wondered.
"With the truth," Selphie decided. "Remind them that right after that, he destroyed a missile base and saved all of us. We wouldn't be here if not for him, after all. And he's already paid for that."
Zell nodded, determination filling his chest. "The cadet who shot Squall is one of the least violent cadets in the whole of Garden. He was being controlled by Ultimecia, so what's to say Seifer wasn't. I mean, he probably wasn't, knowing him, but we don't need to mention that. Right?"
Selphie grinned. "Right!"
The lift doors fell open and Selphie started off towards the quad while Zell turned towards the main entrance to ask the security person there about Quistis. As he walked, he wondered, 'Isn't it ironic that I would be one of those trying the hardest to keep people from hating Seifer? Me, who's suffered his torment since before I can remember?' He let out a breathless laugh. 'Damnit, you bastard. You so owe me. I'm gonna make this Garden look at you with sparkles in their eyes if it's the last fucking thing I ever do. And then I can punch your face in next time you call me 'Chicken-wuss' and I won't feel a damn bit of regret.'
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
A/N: Aww... No slashy. Poo.
XD
Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, whatever you celebrate. (For the record, I celebrate Yule, but I won't go into a apocalyptic fit if you wish me 'Happy Christmas' or whatever. XP)
Updates for both Noblesse and Sins will continue on their stated days, in spite of the many coming holidays, worry not.
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - Hiding Betrayal ||| 2 - Trying to Please Them All
3 - Every Little Earthquake ||| 4 - Faraway Reflections
5 - Guilty By Association ||| 6 - Clouds Are the Future
7 - Sins of Our Tongue ||| 8 - Every Hero Has a Path, Every Sinner a Future
9 - Gather Your Strength ||| 10 - Forever's Never Too Long
..
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai/
batsutousaiBetas: Shara Lunison/
tsuki_no_suzu & Shivani/grazhirChapters: 7 of 10
Rating: T
Pairings: Seifer/Squall, Irvine/Selphie, hints of Quistis/Rinoa
Warnings: AU, minor canon-fuckery, Rinoa bashing, minor Quisty bashing
Summary: How the game could have gone if the writers weren't on crack and so set on everyone being straight.
Sins of Our Tongue
-0-0-0-
Seifer woke slowly. He was, surprisingly, free of pain. There also wasn't anyone smacking him awake or the sounds of Edea's twisting laughing. 'Ultimecia,' he reminded himself. She'd always insisted he call her that while it was just them. Didn't know why. Didn't much care, either.
'I wonder where Squall is now...' he mused, mind changing over to his favourite topic: Wondering about Squall, believing the younger teen would eventually catch up and kill Edea–
Coldly determined grey-blue eyes...the cracking of glass...ice on steel...
Seifer's eyes snapped opened and he stared up at the familiar ceiling of Balamb Garden's infirmary, disbelief and relief warring in his chest. 'Squall saved me...'
The main infirmary door slid opened and a quiet voice asked, "Doctor Kadowaki?"
"What can I do for you?" the good doctor asked and her voice sent fond relief shooting through Seifer; if the ceiling hadn't assured him he was safe, her voice would have.
"Uhm, I was told I could find the Commander here... Is...is he...okay?"
"He's not a patient, if that's what you're asking," Kadowaki replied with amused exasperation. "Is it vital that he come now, or can it wait another hour or two?"
"The Esthar party is back, and they have the Sorceress with them."
Kadowaki sighed and her chair creaked as she stood. "I see. One moment." Her light steps approached Seifer's room and the blond glanced around the room, trying to spot this mysterious 'Commander' that would visit him.
'Squall?' he wondered, catching sight of the other gunblader curled uncomfortably in the only chair in the room. 'Why is he here?'
"Squa–" Kadowaki started before her eyes caught open green. "Seifer!"
The body in the chair jerked and Squall's head snapped up. He stared back at Seifer for a moment, relief flashing in tired eyes before he masked it. "You're awake," he murmured, voice rough from sleep.
"You're not supposed to wake up until this evening," Kadowaki complained, hurrying forward and touching Seifer's cheek. "How do you feel? Any pain?"
Seifer blinked up at her and shook his head. "Ah–" he croaked, only to frown when he realised his throat was too dry for human sounds.
"I'll be right back," Kadowaki bustled, heading through the small doorway. "And don't get out of that bed."
Seifer felt fondness for the doctor warm his heart again and he looked back over at Squall with a smile.
Squall snorted. "You've been here for a week," he supplied to the unasked question. "Kadowaki decided to keep you in a coma so you didn't attempt one of your infamous escape attempts before all your wounds healed."
Seifer blinked at that, then peeked down his shirt. Healthy pink skin had grown over the large patch of burns on his left side and all of the nasty little cuts he'd received that had been left to fester had healed over. Even the wounds from the ice pikes Ultimecia so favoured had been healed, though they were unnaturally pale, compared to the rest of his skin.
Kadowaki bustled back in, the probable owner of the uncertain voice from before following with careful steps. "Slowly," Kadowaki ordered as she handed a cup with a straw over to Seifer.
Seifer obediently took a slow sip, smirking around the straw at her.
"C-Commander?" the uncertain girl in the doorway asked.
Squall's head jerked around. "Yes?"
Seifer pulled his mouth away from the straw before he choked: Squall was the Commander? Commander of what?
"The Esthar party is back, and they have the Sorceress."
Squall's eyes hardened and he unfolded his legs from under him, one hand reaching for his boots. "Are they in Garden yet?" he asked in an authoritative voice that Seifer didn't recognise.
"No, sir. One of the FH boys spotted them a bit out and sent warning. They should be here in another ten minutes."
Squall nodded. "Thank you, Cadet. Has Cid been warned?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Please let him know."
"Yes, sir." The girl saluted, then hurried out.
"Commander?" Seifer croaked as Squall stood.
"I leave him in your capable hands," Squall offered Kadowaki as he started out.
"There's a plate of toast on my desk!" Kadowaki called after him.
"Whatever," Squall called back, but his footsteps changed course just enough to pass within grabbing range of the doctor's desk before leaving out the main entrance.
"Commander?" Seifer croaked to Kadowaki.
The doctor sighed and dropped into the chair Squall had just vacated. "A lot has happened," she offered. "Sip your water and I'll tell you what I can..."
"Welcome back," Cid said as the group stepped down from the crane onto the second floor deck, Zell helping Edea down. Squall stood next to the Headmaster with sharp eyes and two armed SeeDs stood behind the two leaders, only necessary because Squall no longer carried Revolver around. He'd doubted there would be any trouble that couldn't be handled with his knives, but he also knew that overestimating his skills could very well get him killed, especially after a week of sitting behind a paper-covered desk and no training.
"I'm no longer a Sorceress," Edea explained, getting right to the heart of the matter.
"No longer a Sorceress?" Squall asked, frowning. "How would that work? Once a Sorceress, always a Sorceress until death."
"Odine believes Ultimecia may have forced the magic from Matron to have better control over who received it," Selphie explained, expression troubled. "There were only three other women in that room, and I already know I didn't get them. So that leaves Angelica and–"
"Fuck," Squall swore before turning and hurrying from the deck. 'Rinoa. My nausea's always been the worst in the mornings, just after leaving the infirmary. I didn't even think about it. And Seifer's in–' Squall swallowed. 'She hasn't done anything to him yet, and he's been defenceless. She wouldn't do anything now that he's awake.'
"Squall! Wait!" Selphie shouted as he stepped into the lift. She was pelting down the hallway, Irvine and Zell following at a slightly more reasonable pace. Squall held the door just so he wouldn't have to worry about her running head-long into it after it had closed.
"What's the hurry?" Irvine asked as they all piled in.
"Rinoa's in the infirmary," Squall reported tightly as he ran his emergency pass to speed the lift up. "Every time I've been in there since you three left, I've felt sick. I didn't even think about it."
"You sure it's her?" Zell asked uncertainly.
"Yes." Squall stepped quickly from the lift as soon as the doors opened, breezing past saluting cadets and SeeDs without seeing them.
"Seifer's in there, too," Selphie suggested as the three hurried after the Commander. "If Ultimecia really jumped into Rinoa, she's had unfettered access to him for a week."
"Other than the times Squall's been sleeping at his bedside," Irvine muttered, still amused to have found out that the stoic Commander had been sitting vigil over the ex-Knight's bedside whenever he wasn't in meetings. Selphie had mentioned it to them on their way to Esthar and Edea had been delighted to hear that the two rivals were so close.
Squall practically slammed into the infirmary, voice sharp as he ordered the guard, "We're moving Miss Heartilly to solitary. If you would be so kind as to–"
The sound of a gun firing ripped through the air and it was only Squall's battle-trained reflexes that saved him from a shot to the head. Instead, the bullet grazed the side of his head and nicked the top of his left ear.
"Squall!" Selphie shouted, grabbing his arm even as Zell dashed past the Commander and laid the guard out flat with a hard left hook to the jaw.
"What is going on out here?" Kadowaki demanded, stepping out of Seifer's room with a hard look.
"Zell, stop," Squall ordered before the blond SeeD could pummel the guard to death. "He's being controlled by Ultimecia. Get Rinoa down to solitary. Now. Selphie, I'm fine," he added as the small SeeD brushed his hair gently out of the way of the bullet wound, trying to get a good look at the damage.
Zell clenched his fists, furious, but stalked into Rinoa's room, slung the inert form roughly over one shoulder, and started back towards the door out.
"Squall!" Selphie called again when the Commander stumbled to one side, out of the path of the possessed Sorceress as her magic clawed at his skin, making his stomach jump into his throat.
Squall looked up at Rinoa in time to see her eyes open and staring at him, glowing golden. His stomach heaved again and he realised he couldn't break her gaze.
Then a large hand fell over his eyes and Seifer rasped, "Hit her with a Sleep spell, Kinneas."
The tingle of para-magic touched the air and the oppressing sense of Sorceress magic let up, leaving Squall shaking and sick. He couldn't help but relax back when Seifer's other arm wrapped around his abdomen in a silent offer of support.
"Squall, are you okay?" Selphie whispered after the infirmary door had slid shut behind Zell and Irvine.
Squall took a deep breath and nodded, standing straight. "I'm fine."
Seifer's arm fell reluctantly from around Squall and the hand over his eyes slipped around to pull the hair away from where the bullet had hit. "You're a liar," Seifer whispered, carefully pulling some blood-coated hair out of the graze. "And your reflexes have gone to shit while I was gone."
"Seifer, back in bed," Kadowaki snapped as she pulled some cotton pads and potion from a cupboard. "Squall, sit somewhere so I can look at that."
"It's fi–"
"I think I'll be the judge of that," the doctor declared. "Seifer, bed."
Squall batted the hands away from his wound, then turned and half pushed, half followed Seifer back into the ex-Knight's room. Seifer climbed obediently back onto the bed while Squall dropped into the chair and suffered Kadowaki's gentle prodding.
Selphie leaned on the end of Seifer's bed. "It's good to see you up," she offered. "We were all really worried."
"You were worried about me?" Seifer asked, eyes wide with mock surprise. His voice was rough from disuse, but sounded stronger with every word. "Now, why would a couple of unscrupulous SeeDs worry about a naughty Sorceress' Knight like me?"
"Ex-Sorceress' Knight," Squall insisted.
Selphie smiled. "Of course we'd be worried about you! You were a mess when we found you, and Squall was so worried he's been sleeping–"
"Selphie," Squall growled.
"Squally," Selphie chirped.
"Don't worry, Leonhart, I already knew you were a big softie inside," Seifer teased, green eyes glinting with pleasure at having the chance to tease the stoic teen once again. He sobered quickly, however. "Kadowaki gave me the abridged version; Ultimecia is possessing Rinoa?"
"Apparently," Squall agreed drily as Kadowaki leaned back, wounds healed.
"Matron lost her Sorceress powers during the battle," Selphie explained. "I hadn't received them and Squall said he's felt sick every time he's been in the infirmary, where Rinoa was being kept."
"What?" Kadowaki grabbed the Commander's chin in an iron grip and forced him to look up at her. "If you're feeling sick, you're supposed to tell me."
"And be forced into a bed?" Squall snapped. "I have too much work–"
"You'd get more work done if you were in top form, you idiot child!"
"Are we interrupting something?" Irvine wondered with a grin as he and Zell joined the crowd in Seifer's room. He tipped his hat to the ex-Knight, offering, "Good to see you up, Seifer."
"Still think you're some sort of bull-wrangling cowboy?" Seifer shot back with a smirk. "Tut, tut, Kinneas." His eyes darted to the blond standing at the cowboy's shoulder while Irvine laughed. "Chicken-wuss! I've missed your chocobo's ass hairstyle!"
"Oh, fuck you," Zell replied heatedly.
"Doctor K's just telling Squally off for putting his paperwork above his health," Selphie said to Irvine's question.
Squall turned sharp eyes to the two men in front of the door. "Would Esthar be able to seal her?" he demanded in what Seifer had mentally dubbed his 'Commander Voice'.
"Yeah." Zell nodded. "They asked us to find the Sorceress and drag her in, actually." He snorted. "They really don't like the idea of another Sorceress running around."
Squall nodded. "I'm sorry to ask you three back out again after just getting home, but would you be willing to take Rinoa to Esthar?"
The three teens traded looks which sent warning bells ringing in Squall's head. "Well, the thing is," Irvine started very carefully, "it's not really an easy trip, and three of us with an unwilling Sorceress just isn't going to cut it–"
Squall narrowed his eyes. "I can send a couple more SeeDs with you."
"Mediocre SeeDs?" Irvine returned. "No, no. Against a Sorceress like Ultimecia, we're going to need the best."
"Our six best SeeDs are in Galbadia right–"
"I'm talking about the one who's been warming a chair," Irvine interrupted.
Squall's jaw clenched. "I have too much work–"
"Squally, listen," Selphie pleaded quietly and the Commander's mouth snapped shut. The young woman tugged at the bottom of her dress in a nervous gesture before offering, "This Sorceress is from the future, right? So she's probably seen most of SeeD's best tricks multiple times over. Moreover, she's probably got a pretty good idea of how we work, after possessing both Matron and Rinoa and fighting us twice and then whatever she got from Seifer." The blond ex-Knight looked away. "We need to be able to out-think her, and you're the best at thinking on your feet."
"I want to take Seifer, too, if Doctor Kadowaki will release him," Irvine added.
"Huh?" Seifer looked up at the cowboy, obviously confused.
Irvine shot him a tight smile. "You know this Sorceress. You've worked with her and watched her take over Galbadia Garden. If anyone can make a guess at what she might try, it'll be you."
Seifer shook away memories of being pinned to a wall with ice pikes. "Don't go expecting too much of me, Kinneas."
Kadowaki sighed. "Seifer needs another couple days of bed rest before you take him off to Esthar." Then she pinned a scowling Squall with a sharp look. "And you, Commander Leonhart, need a proper night's rest in a proper bed. Not in a chair."
"Or on the floor!" Selphie added with a bright smile for the dark look Squall sent her.
"Why were you sleeping on the floor?" Zell asked, blinking in surprise.
"I stole his bed."
Zell gave the small SeeD a disbelieving look. "Why were you in Squall's bed?"
"Because it smells like him," Selphie replied matter-of-factly.
"You and the messenger girl?" Seifer asked Squall. "Seriously?"
"And I wonder why people think we're dating," Squall muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. "Selphie, censor yourself. Please."
Selphie laughed with a nervous smile. "Oops?"
Squall sighed and shook his head. "Doctor Kadowaki, has anyone other than the guards I set visited Rinoa? Specifically anyone who's been in here more than once."
Kadowaki frowned in thought. "I've had a couple of cadets in here more than once, but none of them got particularly close to her. You and Seifer have been the only regulars in here... Wait! Quistis was in here a number of times, talking to her."
Squall's head shot up and he looked at the group in the doorway. "She should be in Garden somewhere," he told them. "Zell, go find her for me."
Zell saluted. "You got it, Squall."
"Irvine," Squall continued as the blond fighter left, "find Cid and Matron and let them know about Rinoa and our intention to leave for Esthar with her in four days. Also, please tell Cid I need to see him in my office in three hours."
"Consider it done," Irvine agreed. He tipped his hat at them all before turning to leave.
"Four days?" Seifer wondered before Squall could give any further instructions.
"Two days for you to be stuck in a bed, two days for you to get some training in," Squall reported, not looking away from Selphie. "Go report to Angelica about everything that's happened so far, assuming she hasn't hunted Cid down and beat it out of him already."
Selphie grinned fondly at the thought of her old Headmistress. "Sure thing." She smiled at Seifer. "See you around, Seify."
" 'Seify'?" Seifer repeated, torn between amusement and disbelief. "Seriously?"
Selphie stuck her tongue out at him playfully, then danced from the room.
Squall turned to Doctor Kadowaki. "Can you see to the guard that's out there right now?"
"Certainly. I don't know what I can do for him if he's still being controlled by the Sorceress..."
"We can throw him in solitary if it comes to it, but I'm hoping the magic lock will sever her ties to anyone she's got her magic into."
"It might not," Seifer murmured as Kadowaki started out. "It depends on how long she's been working on them and how badly she wanted to keep them. The guards should be fine, even if they've been near her for a week, unless she really wanted one of them. You said you've been feeling sick around her?"
Squall nodded. "For approximately four days."
Seifer raised an impressed eyebrow. "How sick? Like, just a mild headache, or...?"
Squall pressed his lips together tightly, but allowed, "To my stomach. I've thrown up five times."
"Squall!" Kadowaki shouted in irritation, proving she was still listening even though she'd left the room.
Seifer shook his head, even more impressed. "It's a reaction to refusing her magic. I threw up twice, after the missile base. She got tired of trying to win me back after a day, though. Thinking about disobeying her would give me a headache, but actually fighting her made me physically ill."
Squall accepted that explanation with some relief – it hadn't been a sign of his own weakness, then – but he still hated that he'd been sick at all. "You think she's been so focussed on me that she wouldn't have spent much time getting control of anyone else?"
"Basically. It would be hard to control anyone in Garden, anyway, unless they already had some sympathy for Ultimecia or Rinoa. The only people with even a passing familiarity with Rinoa were either unconscious–" Seifer raised his own hand with a faint smile, "–already fighting her off, or out of her reach."
Squall frowned. "Except for Quistis. Do you know how long it would take for her to gain control of Quistis?"
Seifer shook his head. "Depends on what their relationship was, how interested in using her Ultimecia was, how much magic she was putting towards trying to control someone else, how defensive against Sorceress magic Quistis was..." He shrugged. "Anywhere from a week to a couple hours. I know it took her almost three days to win Rinoa over, and that was with all of her attention turned on someone unwilling. With her so focussed on you, everyone else should be okay."
Squall grunted and stood. "Now all I have to figure out is why she was so focussed on me."
"Uhm, SeeD Commander?" Seifer commented, rolling his eyes. "About three quarters of Garden has been crushing on you since you were twelve, Squally, and you are so Rinoa's type."
"What does that have anything to do with it?"
Seifer dropped his face into his hands in a classic Squall gesture. "Oh, hit puberty already, would you? You're embarrassing me."
Squall snorted and stepped from the room to check on Kadowaki and the downed guard. "So?"
Kadowaki sighed. "I don't know how I'd even check for Sorceress control, but I healed his jaw."
Squall nodded. "Strap him to the bed and leave him until he wakes on his own. I'll have someone check in with the other two guards and see how they are, but there's a chance that he's still being controlled even if they aren't. Send a runner to let me know how he is when he wakes up."
"Certainly. You'll be in your office?"
"Yes." He started for the door out.
"Squall," Kadowaki called, a note of warning in her tone. When the Commander paused next to the door, she continued, "if I find out you didn't get some real sleep tonight, you'll spend the next two days on bed rest. Sedated, if I must."
"Noted," Squall replied evenly, then stalked from the room.
Kadowaki sighed and poked her head into Seifer's room. "Hungry?"
Seifer grinned. "And bored. You got anything to read in here?"
The doctor snorted. "Medical texts."
Seifer considered that for a moment. "I'll take it."
Kadowaki shook her head, but left to gather him something to read and order them both something to eat.
"Squall?" Zell asked, poking his head through the door with a troubled expression.
Squall waved for him to come in, not looking up from his paperwork. "Did you find Quistis?"
Zell shook his head. "No. She seems to have vanished sometime overnight. But..." He hesitated for a moment, then said, "She's been spreading rumours. That Seifer was the one who tortured you in D-District."
Squall's hand froze mid-way through his signature, hair obscuring the tightening of his mouth.
Zell took his silence as affirmation and snapped, "That fucking bastard!"
Squall carefully set his pen down before he could accidentally snap it and calmly enquired, "How long have you known Cadet Addams? Twelve years?"
Zell blinked, surprised out of his anger at the apparent non sequitur. "Jason? Yeah, sure, twelve, thirteen years. He lived right next door to us in Balamb."
Squall nodded. "And have you even known him to act violently towards a person in a position of authority? For any reason?" He glanced up, quicksilver eyes sharp with dark knowledge.
Zell felt a bit like he was being backed into a corner. "No, never. Why would..." He trailed off when he finally realised that the guard he'd laid out in the infirmary had been Jason. "Oh, fuck."
Squall returned his attention back down to his paperwork, carefully picking his pen back up. "We only got back onto a proper dock yesterday; see if one of the security staff at the front gate saw her leaving. Alternately, check through the security footage on the second floor deck. Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll have been caught by that camera."
Zell swallowed. "Why didn't you tell us?" he wanted to know.
Squall frowned down at his paperwork. "I knew how you'd react." He glanced up at the blond, eyes hard. "I want to know how long Quistis has been gone."
Zell nodded and turned to leave. He was halfway out the door before he paused to ask, "What are you going to do about the rumours? I mean, everyone already knows that Seifer's a jerk, so it's not too hard to imagine him doing something like that, you know?"
Squall sighed and rubbed a finger along his scar. "What do you expect me to do, Zell? Deny the truth? Try to explain the control a Sorceress can bring to bear on her servants? Everyone knows he went with her willingly, and him blowing up that missile base only means so much. Seifer won't want their sympathy, anyway." He glanced tiredly up at the blond in the doorway. "As long as no one tries attacking him in the building, there's little I can do; they'll believe whatever they wish to believe." He returned to his paperwork, signalling the end of the conversation.
Zell slipped out of the office and started towards the lift, hands in his pockets. He had never liked Seifer, and he really wasn't surprised that the bastard had tortured Squall – whether he was being controlled by Ultimecia or not at the time hardly mattered – but when he tried to hate the bastard for it, he remembered him in that tiny container, death literally hanging over his head. He remembered the list of injuries Selphie had whispered to them over a fire during their journey to Esthar, the tears Matron had cried for the terrible things she'd done to one of her own children.
'Maybe he's a real fucking bastard, but no one deserves the hell he went through. If anyone has any right to hold that against him, it's Squall, and he's clearly forgiven the bastard. And he is a bastard, but he saved all our asses and almost died for it. I'm never going to like him, but I'm not going to stand back and watch his name get dragged through the mud for something he may or may not have willingly done.'
"Hey, Zell?" Selphie called as the opening lift doors revealed her, a note of uncertainty in her voice.
"Hey, Selph. What's wrong?" he asked, pasting on a strained smile.
Selphie bit her bottom lip. "I just heard a really nasty rumour about Seifer."
Zell's heart fell and he pressed her back into the lift, following her and pressing the button to close the doors. "About D-District?"
Selphie nodded, looking sick. "It can't be true," she whispered.
Zell shook his head. "Squall said it was."
"Why didn't he tell us?!"
Zell let out a strained laugh. "You know Squall, he wouldn't tell us if he was two days from dying of a painful illness and in screaming agony all day." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "He was protecting us. And Seifer, I think. He, uhm...he sort of implied that Seifer was being forced to do it against his will, but I'm not sure how true that is, knowing Seifer. But..."
Selphie hugged herself. "It's not fair. People were just getting used to thinking that Seifer isn't such a bad guy, and now they're back to thinking he's even more of a jerk than they thought before. And he's not. I mean, okay," she amended at Zell's disbelieving look, "he's kind of a jerk, but he's not wilfully cruel. Not like that rumour is painting him. We... Can't we do anything?"
Zell turned eyes dark with anger on Seifer's behalf to the floor of the lift. "I don't know. Squall's not even going to try..."
Selphie chewed her bottom lip for a long minute before reaching past Zell's shoulder to press the button for the first floor. "We can combat that stupid rumour."
"How?" Zell wondered.
"With the truth," Selphie decided. "Remind them that right after that, he destroyed a missile base and saved all of us. We wouldn't be here if not for him, after all. And he's already paid for that."
Zell nodded, determination filling his chest. "The cadet who shot Squall is one of the least violent cadets in the whole of Garden. He was being controlled by Ultimecia, so what's to say Seifer wasn't. I mean, he probably wasn't, knowing him, but we don't need to mention that. Right?"
Selphie grinned. "Right!"
The lift doors fell open and Selphie started off towards the quad while Zell turned towards the main entrance to ask the security person there about Quistis. As he walked, he wondered, 'Isn't it ironic that I would be one of those trying the hardest to keep people from hating Seifer? Me, who's suffered his torment since before I can remember?' He let out a breathless laugh. 'Damnit, you bastard. You so owe me. I'm gonna make this Garden look at you with sparkles in their eyes if it's the last fucking thing I ever do. And then I can punch your face in next time you call me 'Chicken-wuss' and I won't feel a damn bit of regret.'
-0-0-0-
A/N: Aww... No slashy. Poo.
XD
Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, whatever you celebrate. (For the record, I celebrate Yule, but I won't go into a apocalyptic fit if you wish me 'Happy Christmas' or whatever. XP)
Updates for both Noblesse and Sins will continue on their stated days, in spite of the many coming holidays, worry not.
~Bats ^.^x
1 - Hiding Betrayal ||| 2 - Trying to Please Them All
3 - Every Little Earthquake ||| 4 - Faraway Reflections
5 - Guilty By Association ||| 6 - Clouds Are the Future
9 - Gather Your Strength ||| 10 - Forever's Never Too Long
..
