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batsutousaiTitle: Silver Wings
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Author: Batsutousai
Pairing: Squall Leonhart/Seifer Almasy
Rating: Mature
Warnings: AU, canon violence, Sorceress!Squall, original character death, mind rape, mental torture
Summary: On that fateful day, when a child grown visited his childhood home and a dying sorceress passed on her powers, it wasn't another sorceress they found, but a young boy running lost.
A/N: This chapter is up ridiculously early because I'm going to be out and without internet until super late, and I decided it was better to post this chapter super early, than it would be to post it super late. XD
Bahamut reported his missiles taken care of after Squall and Seifer were back in the car. 'I will leave Selphie and Quistis at this Garden, then return,' he said.
"No," Squall murmured, watching but not really seeing Garden fill the windscreen as Seifer drove them in. "I can continue to support you there; given the state of things, I'd much prefer to have a line of communication open between Balamb and Trabia."
'I will exhaust you unnecessarily,' Bahamut insisted. 'Quezacotl or Diablos would be the better option.'
'By the time we got there, it may well be too late to matter,' Quezacotl pointed out.
"And I'm not sure I can support three of you at once," Squall admitted tiredly. Tonberry let out a quiet sound of sorrow and he shook his head with a smile. "No, I need someone there, and you're the least likely to call attention to yourself."
"Better to have Bahamut where he can easily lend a claw if Trabia faces more trouble, anyway," Seifer pointed out as they entered the car park. "If Galbadia sends more missiles, he'll have to go back out there again. Unless Diablos could stop them?"
'Not as decisively,' Diablos replied.
"If it becomes a problem, we'll revisit the issue," Squall decided. "For now, Bahamut, stay with Quisty and Selph."
'As you say, Sorcerer,' Bahamut agreed before ordering, 'Do not let him exhaust himself, Knight. His health is more important than my continued presence.'
"That's not–" Squall started.
"Shut up, Squally," Seifer ordered before getting out of the car.
Squall huffed and got out himself, irritated more because he knew nothing he could say was going to win Seifer to his side, than anything else.
Cid was waiting for them in the central hub, a robed faculty member hovering imposingly at his shoulder. Zell and Irvine were standing off to one side, Heartilly next to Zell.
"Rinoa?" Seifer called, surprise tickling the back of Squall's mind. "What the hell are you doing in Balamb?"
Heartilly straightened. "I'm a client of SeeD. What are you doing here?"
"He's one of our SeeDs," Cid declared as he stepped forward. When Squall raised an eyebrow at him – caught between Seifer's wave of disbelief and his own amusement at the way Cid disregarded his own rules about things like due process when it suited his purposes – the headmaster smiled and added, "It's good to have you home, Seifer."
Seifer shifted at Squall's side and drily remarked, "I'm sure you're one of the few who will say so, sir."
Cid chuckled. "True enough; let it never be said you lack for enemies." He focussed on Squall, then, while Seifer let out a laugh that came dangerously close to being a cackle. "Trabia?"
"Safe, for the moment," Squall reported, nodding to Zell and Irvine when he saw them relaxing. "Bahamut is going to remain there, so we should know immediately if there's any trouble." He sighed and rubbed at his forehead, only to be distracted by the unfamiliar scar passing between his eyes. He knew he'd received it from Seifer, but there was something about it, something important about the shape and placement.
"Given how much she wants Squall dead, I expect we'll be hearing from her before Trabia will," Seifer commented, gently squeezing Squall's shoulder.
Cid nodded. "And Edea?" he asked, and it was only because Squall knew him so well than he heard the faint note of pleading in the headmaster's voice.
He shook his head regretfully. "If there's anything of her left, I didn't see it." He pulled away from Seifer and awkwardly touched Cid's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Uncle Cid."
Cid forced a smile. "She's strong. I'm sure she's just biding her time."
Squall stared at him for a moment, recognising the plea for hope and wondering if it wouldn't be kinder to crush him now.
'Be kind,' Shiva suggested. 'If not for Cid, then for Edea; everyone deserves to have someone believe in them, no matter what.'
He pulled on a smile, made it as honest as he could, and agreed, "All we need to do is give her a little opening so she can overpower that sorceress, I'm sure."
"No way can she be weak," Seifer agreed in that tone that meant he was trying to start a fight. "I mean, she did raise Leonhart."
"I think it's more impressive she kept from strangling you," Zell snapped.
"Got something to say, Chicken-wuss?"
Squall sighed and focussed on Cid again as the familiar argumentative tones flowed around him. "Where's Sis? I'd have expected her to be here."
"I sent her and the cadets down to the basement, in hopes that they'd survive if something went wrong."
Squall raised both eyebrows at that. "You sent her to NORG? Was that wise?" Squall had never had occasion to meet Balamb Garden's financial backer, but he'd heard enough about the Shumi from Matron to know giving him access to Elle, hunted as she was for whatever reason, was in no one's best interest.
Cid winced. "It was the best choice I had. And she knows to keep her head down."
Squall had to agree with that; she got a little careless sometimes, when she was with people she trusted, but no one knew how much danger she was in better than Elle herself. Still, "It should be safe to let everyone back up."
Cid turned to the faculty member and nodded. "Let them up." He turned back to Squall as the faculty stalked off with a huff. "Why don't you get Seifer and Irvine installed in the guest wing and put your things away, then I'd like the four of you–" he glanced over towards Zell and Irvine, including them "–to come up to my office and report. If Elle's joined you by then, she's welcome."
"Yes, sir," Squall replied as he snapped off a salute. Cid waved him off with a resigned smile, so Squall jerked his head towards the dorm hall and led the way, feeling the others fall in behind him quickly.
Heartilly had followed along, and she jogged to catch up with where Seifer was walking just behind Squall. "I thought you quit Garden," she complained, sounding petulant.
"I did," Seifer agreed carelessly. "But Squally just missed me so much–"
Squall glanced back over his shoulder and offered the blond a smile that he knew from experience would let Seifer know, on no uncertain terms, that he was treading a thin line. "What was that, Almasy? You'd like some private tutoring in ice magic?"
"Deploy the handbrake and put that car in reverse, Seifer," Irvine suggested jokingly, earning a strangled laugh from Zell as the martial artist broke off for his SeeD dorm.
"Did I ask for your advice, Kinneas?" Seifer snapped back.
Squall ignored their bickering while he led the way up to the guest hall, but once they were standing outside his and Elle's shared room, he ordered, "Stop," and his magic helpfully froze them both in place. He dropped his bag in front of his door, then stepped forward to frisk both Seifer and Irvine's pockets for their cadet IDs, ignoring Heartilly's confused, "What is going on?" he used them, in conjunction with his own SeeD ID, to give them each a room on opposite sides of the hall, then slipped the cards back away where he'd found them.
An absent Esuna later had them both glaring at him and he shot them a sharp smile and pointed at either end of the hall as he ordered, "Irvine, that corner. Seifer, that corner."
"That was a scarily good Matron impression," Irvine told him, tone a cross between irritated and impressed, as he turned towards his assigned room.
Seifer just gave him a considering look before making for his own room in silence.
Squall turned his stare, smile vanishing, on Heartilly next. "I expect you have something more interesting to be doing than following my team and I around, Miss Heartilly. Why don't you see to it?"
"And if I don't?" Heartilly challenged.
Squall tilted his head to one side. "To clarify, that wasn't a suggestion." Then he turned and picked up his bag with one hand while swiping his ID to open his own door with the other.
It was, admittedly, calming to be back among the familiar piles of books that Elle left all over their shared common area. He snagged one as he strode across the floor to his room, eyebrows raising when he saw it was something of a how-to guide on self-defence for those who didn't have any training. He had just dropped his bag and was about to flip the book open when the room door opened and Seifer stepped in, a curious look on his face.
"My card worked," Seifer said in his defence, holding up his cadet ID.
Squall snorted and opened the book. "I wouldn't be surprised to find that Sis added you to the permissions while I was still in my coma."
Seifer shoved his ID away, expression darkening. "Is there anyone who didn't know I was your Knight, Leonhart?"
"Before or after you left and no one could touch me?" Squall returned absently, most of his attention on the book. It wasn't a terrible resource, but if Elle was serious about learning some self-defence, she was going to need a trainer of some form.
'The Sorceress's magic responded to you leaving while he was under attack, by attacking anyone who tried touching him,' Quezacotl explained, apparently as capable of reading the bubble of Seifer's emotions at the back of Squall's mind as he was.
"Fucking shit," Seifer spat, falling into the couch that Squall often found Elle dragging him down into. "Is there anything I didn't fuck up by leaving last year?"
Squall considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "Matron getting possessed had nothing to do with you leaving."
"Thank you for that, Squally."
Squall shrugged again, but was saved from further answering by the door opening again, this time to admit Elle. "Welcome home!" she called and Squall offered her a grateful smile, even as she spotted Seifer. Her eyes went wide and she shouted, "Seifer!" before dashing around the couch and crashing into him for a hug just after he'd made it to his feet, sending them both back onto the couch in a heap.
Squall let out a startled laugh and quickly turned away, holding a hand over his mouth to hide his amusement.
"I'm pretty sure you just broke Squall," Seifer commented, obviously amused.
"He needed it," Elle declared before there was the sound of something falling back onto the couch. Squall glanced over his shoulder to see that she'd sat back against the side opposite from where Seifer was still sprawled. "Anyway, it's good to have you home, Seifer." Elle dropped her head back against the arm of the couch so she could look at Squall upside down. "Does this mean I need to give up my room?"
Seifer perked up, but Squall shot him an irritated look and asked, "After how many years it took us to get a room together? Seifer's across the hall; that's close enough."
"And when I have to return to Alexander?" Elle pressed.
"One life crisis at a time, Elle," Seifer insisted as he pushed himself to his feet. "For now, we need to collect Kinneas and Chicken–"
"Seifer," Elle said, disapproving.
"–Wuss and head up to give Headmaster Cid our report. Well, reports, plural. Which reminds me, Squally." Seifer pinned Squall with an uncommonly serious look. "What did that one GF mean, when she said you and the Sorceress possessing Matron share magic?"
"Pandemona," Squall corrected as he set the self-defence book down on the nearest stack. "When she attacked me, I saw a physical representation of her form in my mind; she's the sorceress I got my powers from when I was five." He grimaced. "Hard to forget her, even without the battle wounds." He touched the new scar on his forehead a bit absently, only to freeze as he realised where he'd seen it before.
Squall pushed off his doorway and strode into the bathroom he shared with Elle, flipping on the light as he went. In the mirror, he found himself staring at the man who'd appeared with the sorceress. "Fuck," he breathed, staring at his own wide eyes.
Seifer stepped up behind him, then, one eyebrow raised sardonically, even as concern pressed warmly against the back of Squall's mind. "I'm sure Kadowaki has a way to get rid of that scar, if you really hate it that much, Leonhart."
Squall met Seifer's eyes in the mirror. "When the sorceress appeared, when we were kids, there was a man with her." He touched his new scar. "He had this same scar."
Seifer's other eyebrow joined the first, expression bleeding from sardonic to impressed. "Can you do that? Travel back to your childhood?"
Squall let out a tired laugh. "Seifer, I don't know half the things I can do. My magic likes to create new spells just because it can. Fuck, it made a healing spell for you, even though I can't cast life magic without para-magic."
Seifer settled his hands on Squall's shoulders, squeezing them in an attempt at comfort. "You know what this tells me, Squally?" he asked, mouth smoothing out to an easy smile.
"That my magic likes you?" Squall bit out.
Seifer's eyes glinted. "That too. But, no." He squeezed Squall's shoulders again. "We're going to kill this bitch."
Squall closed his eyes, touching his necklace. "But at what cost?" he whispered, and his voice sounded hollow. As tired as a child version had once thought an adult version of him looked.
A knock came at the main door to the suite as Seifer admitted, "I don't know."
"Not you," Squall heard himself say, his magic forcing the words out, furious at the very thought. "Don't you fucking dare leave me again, Almasy."
"Irvy!" Elle called out in the common area, clearly having gone to answer the door.
Seifer gave up all pretence and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Squall and meeting his cold stare in the mirror. "I swear," he promised. "There's not a fucking thing in this world that could make me leave your side again, Squall." He snorted as Squall relaxed, soothed by the promise. "Well, except your hard-headedness about sharing a dorm."
Squall attempted to pull out of Seifer's hold, but when the knight wouldn't let him go, he settled for pointing a finger at the blond's reflection. "I am not giving up Sis. Not a chance."
"You realise you have a complex, right?"
Squall snorted. "You realise I'm completely okay with that." Seifer laughed. "We're expected in Uncle Cid's office."
Seifer obediently let go and Squall led the way back out into the main room of the suite, where they found Irvine and Zell waiting with Elle.
"Every reason I can think of for two guys being in the bathroom together–" Irvine started.
"Kinneas, do yourself a favour and keep your thoughts to yourself," Seifer ordered.
Irvine offered a lazy smile. "Now, why would I want to do a thing like that?"
"Because I'm telling you to," Squall informed him drily, stopping next to Elle. "We're headed for Uncle Cid's office to debrief. You're welcome to join us."
"I'd like that," Elle agreed, linking their arms together. "Squall?" she said as they started through the hall, the other three falling in behind them.
"Sis?"
"Why are you carrying around Tonberry's lantern?"
"Is that what that is?" Irvine whispered behind them.
"Keep up, Kinneas," Seifer returned.
Squall rolled his eyes. "He gave it to me when I sent him to keep an eye on Matron," he explained to Elle. "He knew he'd have to sneak around a bit, and the lantern would give him away."
"And we know he's safe so long as you've got it," Elle said knowingly.
Squall eyed her, amused. "I don't need a lantern to know that."
"I said we," Elle retorted, swatting his arm. "As in, those of us without a direct connection to your GFs."
"Not everyone has little voices in their heads, Squally," Seifer agreed mockingly.
Squall snorted, far less bothered by Seifer's long-time joke when he knew the knight was just as capable of hearing his GFs as Squall was.
They had just got into the lift and hit the button for the top floor when Tonberry let out a hurried rush of squeaks. Squall felt himself tense, his GF chattering too quickly for him to catch anything more than panic.
"Translation?" Seifer requested rubbing at his forehead.
The humans in the lift all shot him confused looks, even as Quezacotl obediently explained, 'Tonberry says Galbadia Garden can fly. They're having trouble with the controls, but they're heading to Balamb once they've sorted everything out.'
"Shit," Seifer whispered, catching Squall's eyes.
"Bahamut," Squall started as the lift doors opened and he started out, steps hurried.
'I am going to warn them, now,' the dragon promised.
"Tonberry, see if you can find a way to delay them," Squall ordered, moving on to the next difficulty. "Try and keep out of view, but if you can give us an extra day by getting seen, do it."
Tonberry squeaked an affirmative.
Squall met Cid's startled gaze as he stopped in front of the man's desk, feeling the others come in behind him. "Galbadia Garden is mobile," he reported and heard the sharp gasp of multiple people realising what had just occurred from behind him. "They're suffering some technical difficulty right now, but once they've got it sorted, they're coming here."
Cid slumped tiredly against his desk. "I was afraid this would happen," he admitted.
"You knew?!" Seifer shouted, coming up to stand at Squall's shoulder, a solid presence that went a long way towards soothing the churning of magic and anger and fear mixing up inside of Squall. "We should have been fucking evacuating, not settling in!"
Cid winced and looked at Squall, apparently finding his hard stare less discouraging than the fury no doubt painting his knight's face. "All of the Gardens can move," he explained and Squall felt his eyes widen. "We repurposed the old shelters the Centran people used to escape the Lunar Cry."
"No wonder they're having technical difficulties," Zell offered with a helpless little laugh.
"This is no–" Seifer started before Squall reached back and grabbed his coat.
"If we can move, we need to get off the ground," Squall said quietly, watching Cid. "We're going to have the same troubles that Galbadia is having, and the sooner we get started on figuring out what we're working with, the more likely we'll be to survive this."
Cid took a deep breath and nodded, then pulled a card from his pocket. "All I know is that the controls are in the MD levels, far below the basement." He held the card out to Squall. "This will take the lift down there."
Squall nodded as he took it. "We'll handle it. I need you to find any cadets or SeeDs specialising in technology or studied in Centran text and have them ready for us to take down to the controls once we've found them."
"Anyone from Galbadia," Irvine suggested.
Squall glanced back to look at him, one eyebrow cocked. "Volunteering yourself, Irvine?"
Irvine offered a helpless smile and shrugged. "I can certainly give it a glance, but I specialise in weaponised technology, rather than transportation. All those turning wheels just give me a headache."
"Imagine that," Seifer muttered, quiet enough that the sharpshooter wouldn't have heard.
Squall considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Irvine, you have a better idea of what sort of help we'd need; go around and see about finding those who know how to manage this sort of technology."
Irvine shot off a salute. "You got it, Squall."
"Sis, go with him and see if you can't find those who have more than a passing knowledge of the Centran language. Stop by the library, see who might have checked out any books on the subject."
Elle smiled at him, clearly glad to be of use.
"Zell," Squall continued, turning to the martial artist, "take the fastest car in the car park and get down to Balamb. Collect anyone who might be able to help that you can find who's willing to come back up to Garden. And spread the word that Galbadia Garden's probably going to be coming through here and they'd be best served keeping their heads down."
"Should I tell them to evacuate?" Zell asked, expression troubled.
"Tell them to hold off, for now," Seifer suggested. "We can sort out evacuation procedures once we know what we're working with and how many cadets will need to be offloaded for their safety. If they need incentive, tell them we'll use our own ships to help with the evacuation; those'll stand up far better than most of the fishing boats in dock, and we can track them down once it's safe for them to come back."
Zell looked surprised for a moment before he gave a sharp nod. "I'll do that," he agreed, with none of the usual irritation that coloured his voice when he spoke to Seifer.
Squall nodded and looked back towards Cid. "Seifer and I will go find these controls. Can you organise everything up here? See about getting those cadets that should be evacuated prepared to offload as soon as necessary."
Cid straightened. "I'll take care of things."
They left Cid to organise things from his office and all piled back into the lift. Elle, Irvine, and Zell all got off on the ground floor, leaving Squall and Seifer to continue down to the MD levels.
The lift jerked to a stop between floors at one point, and Squall let out an irritated sound before casting out with his Quake magic to figure out what the problem was. When he found it, he let out a quiet, "Oh. Well, shit."
"Squall?" Seifer requested, voice dry.
"The track the lift runs through is rusted through down here," Squall explained evenly. "We're caught on a piece of the track that broke, right now, but it's not going to hold out for long."
Seifer raised his fist like he wanted to punch the lift walls, but then thought better of it. "Fucking Hyne." He took a deep breath, the sense of him at the back of Squall's mind taking on a feeling of forced calm. "What can you do?"
"I can't promise this will work," Squall warned as he closed his eyes and focussed on his Quake magic. He knew he could manipulate metal, to an extent, and strengthen it, but he'd never dealt with this level of damage before. Indeed, the last time he'd tried fixing rusted metal, as a child on Alexander, he hadn't managed anything.
Warm arms wrapped around his middle, steadying him. "Give it a shot," Seifer suggested, voice gentle against Squall's ear.
Squall resisted the strange urge to shiver and pushed his magic to do what had once seemed impossible; after all, didn't his magic like proving the impossible possible on a daily basis?
Slowly, the lift started moving again, the track repairing itself ahead of them at a steady pace, until they stopped at the lowest level and the doors popped open with a cheerful little 'ding'.
It was only a short walk from where the lift had opened to the strange pile of machinery with a control panel sitting in front of it.
"Well," Seifer said, staring up at the pile of unfamiliar technology, "the Centrans were certainly good at making an impression."
Squall snorted and leaned towards his knight, tired from the strain of keeping them alive, not to mention the rest of the magic he'd done that day.
Seifer easily picked him up, same as when they'd escaped Dollet. "Let's set you up for a nap like a good Sorcerer, so I can focus on things other than making sure you don't fall over."
"Put. Me. Down," Squall ordered, even as he closed his eyes and let his head rest on Seifer's shoulder.
"Yeah, you're not fooling anyone, Squally." The lift dinged again and Seifer moved forward, into the enclosed space. "Can you trust me to keep Garden in one piece for eight hours?"
"Six," Squall argued.
"Eight. You're supporting two GFs."
Squall let out an irritated huff, but he had to admit that Seifer had a point; they needed Bahamut and Tonberry far more than he needed to be awake while Garden sorted itself out.
"I promise I'll wake you the moment something happens, for good or ill," Seifer offered.
"Fine," Squall agreed. "Eight."
Seifer chuckled, the sound warm and comforting in a way that Squall had never noticed before, and he let himself drift off.
It was Elle who came to wake him, in the end, looking somewhere between excited and frazzled. "Seifer sent me," she told him as he rubbed at his face and checked his connection to Bahamut and Tonberry; they were fine, and Bahamut was in a surprisingly good mood, approving of Squall's forced nap.
"Where are we with getting Garden moving?" he asked as he followed her out into the common area, shrugging into his jacket one-handed, while he held Sheer Trigger with the other to strap on out in the hallway, while they were walking.
"You'll see," she promised, and would say nothing further as they walked through the unexpected tunnel between the dorms and the rest of Garden. She led him up to the first floor emergency exit, which, it turned out, was no longer quite such a thing.
"See what happens when you trust me?" Seifer teased as Squall came to join him at the safety wall, staring down at the darkened water beneath them; he'd slept through sunset. "I do things like make Garden fly."
"Technically," Irvine wasted no time in correcting, "she's sailing."
Squall rolled his eyes. "To where are we headed?"
"We wanted to call a vote, but you were missing," Cid offered, eyes sparkling in a way that they hadn't since before Squall had fallen into his coma. "Seifer insisted you weren't to be woken for anything less than mortal peril until he said you'd slept enough."
"Got a bit of a big head," Zell muttered, shooting Seifer a look that was unfamiliar only because it lacked about half the venom Squall was used to seeing; clearly, his troublesome knight had won some points by offering the townspeople use of SeeD ships.
Squall eyed the safety wall for a moment before shrugging and hopping back onto it, an easy twitch of his hand knocking Sheer Trigger safely out of the way. When he felt a steadying hand against his back, he gave Seifer an irritated look and asked, "And which of us grew up on a moving vehicle?"
"By all accounts, both of us," Seifer replied easily, patting the safety wall. Before Squall could rejoin, he added, "Alexander is hardly Garden, Squally."
"How would you know what Alexander is or isn't?" Squall asked drily. "You've never even seen her."
"We have three options," Cid interrupted. "We can head down to Fisherman’s Horizon and see if they can't further our familiarity with Garden's systems – they were the ones who converted the old shelters – we can attempt to find Alexander or one of her scout ships, or we can to Trabia and see about joining with our sister and helping them get their systems up, if they haven't already."
Bahamut hadn't mentioned anything about Trabia being on the move, so Squall assumed they were still shoved in the ground for whatever reason. "FH wouldn't be pleased if we come through with a Garden. Best to find a scout ship and send them in our name, either for contractors to board us, or permission to dock there," he pointed out before shrugging. "I seem to recall at least one scout ship running the route between Balamb and the Hawkind Plains, and another northeast of the Tollet Peninsula.
"Bahamut," he called, refocussing his attention, "fly up and see if you can spot any scout ships near Trabia."
'Do you want me to approach it?' Bahamut asked after a moment, clearly having spotted one.
"No. Where is it?"
'To the northeast.'
Squall glanced over towards Seifer, unable to help the way he automatically found himself turning to his knight the way he'd so often looked to his GFs for their opinion in the past. "Most of them know Bahamut, but I can't see him showing up in the middle of the night doing them any good."
Seifer shrugged. "I don't expect it's likely they'd know anyone at Trabia?"
Squall shook his head. "No. Balamb was the only Garden we ever had any contact with." He glanced towards Cid. "Though, that might not hold true for the scouts."
Cid shrugged. "I left the activities of his people for Captain Owens to manage. I would expect they've have some contact with Trabian villages, for trading purposes, but I can't say what relationship they might have had with Trabia Garden. Angelica certainly knows they're out there, of course..."
"What are you thinking?" Squall asked of his knight, recognising the way Seifer was stroking the sleeve of his coat.
"May I?"
Squall blinked, confused for a moment before he realised Seifer was asking him permission to give Bahamut an order. He couldn't promise that the dragon would be agreeable, but, then, Bahamut was in a good mood after Squall's forced nap, so perhaps he'd be willing to follow the knight's orders. "Please."
"Bahamut, best to wait until morning either way, but check with Trabia, see if they have anyone known to that ship. If so, fly them out there, if not, take Trepe. I assume we're headed to Trabia ourselves?" He looked at Squall, who shrugged and nodded before glancing around at the others to catch their agreeable nods, that being the most viable course of action at this point. "Tell the scout ship to find Alexander. Tell them we're headed for Trabia, then...Fisherman's Horizon?"
"Might as well. We'll send our own scout ship ahead if we find one, to warn FH." He looked towards Cid. "Do you have the authority to declare a SeeD Emergency for the Alexander's crew?"
"The what now?" Zell asked.
"I don't," Cid admitted, "but you do."
Squall blinked and looked first to Seifer, then Elle for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, he looked back at Cid. "No, I don't."
Cid levelled a serious look on him. "Indeed you do, Commander Leonhart."
Squall pushed himself forward, back onto the balcony, before he could chance falling over backwards, trapped somewhere between shock and disbelief. "Excuse me?"
"Commander?" Zell repeated, and Squall couldn't help but wonder if the martial artist understood the significance of the yet-unheld title. Irvine clearly did, by his widened eyes, and the mix of shock and pride at the back of Squall's mind told him Seifer did, as well.
"You cannot refuse, Squall," Cid told him. "Captain Owens and I have already agreed that you are best suited, having lived both on Alexander and in Garden. I'm no war leader, and he can't manage ground troops, not when none of them know him; you're it."
Squall stared at the headmaster for a rattle of too-quick heartbeats, before bursting out, "You can't name a sorcerer the leader of all of SeeD, Uncle Cid!" Zell drew in a sharp breath, clearly the last to know, but Squall barrelled on, "Never mind the simple fact that most of Beau's people fear me, what happens if I go mad? You really expect–"
"You won't go mad," Seifer cut in, voice sharp. "Your GFs and I won't let you."
Squall turned on his knight, anger and disbelief and something not unlike fear churning in his gut. "You know my magic, Almasy! You really think it's going to give a damn what you or the others say?"
Seifer stepped in close, pushing Squall back against the drop to ocean water beneath them. "I do. Because unlike some Sorcerers I know, your magic actually listens to me."
'It is your choice, Sorceress,' Shiva reminded him, but the words he used to speak to himself every morning as a comfort felt almost cold, now.
Seifer caught his hand in Squall's necklace and held it up between them, the familiar lion's head glinting as it caught the light from the lantern at Squall's hip. "What would Gee want?" he asked, and the name was unfamiliar on his tongue, like one he'd always known, but never found the place to speak.
"How did you–?"
"I overheard you, that first spring," Seifer bit out, eyes shying away, uncomfortable.
And, like that, it made sense to Squall, the way Seifer would pick on anything but his love of lions, the way he'd shut other people up when they asked about it. He couldn't have known the whole story, but he knew enough, and he'd been trying to protect Squall ever since, in his way.
And, oh, wasn't it just like Seifer to latch on to the one person in Squall's life who who had, perhaps, the greatest cause to fear him for his magic, and yet had trusted him wholly. So much so, that she had run to her death, expecting protection that came too late. And, when Squall had lost himself, so beside himself with grief that he hadn't wanted to keep on, had it not been Seifer who brought him back to the world?
Squall reached up and wrapped his hand around Seifer's, holding Virgie's memory between them. "You'll be there?" he whispered, just between them.
"I swear," Seifer whispered back, recalling earlier in the bathroom.
Squall held the green stare, familiar in so many ways, and said, "Bahamut."
'Sorcerer?'
"When you pass on our orders to the scout ship, tell them SeeD Commander Leonhart authorises use of their emergency engines. We're at war, and time is of the essence."
"If they're difficult?" Elle called, reminding Squall that he and Seifer weren't, in fact, alone.
He pushed at Seifer, earning him a cocky smirk as the blond obediently backed up, the necklace falling back against Squall's chest. "Then I'll court martial their asses off the fucking plank. I don't give a flying fuck about their issues with me, we are at war with a sorceress who wants us all dead, and they will obey an order from their superior officer, no matter what I may be."
"Ah," Seifer breathed, eyes glinting, "there's the Leonhart we all love to hate."
Squall pinned him with an unimpressed look that had exactly zero effect, then turned to Zell, eyes hardening. "I'm a sorcerer, have been since we were kids. You got a problem with that, you keep it between us. Understood?"
Zell shifted uncomfortably. "Squall, man, you're my friend. I already knew you were a magic whiz; now I know why. But that doesn't change things, not between us. I mean, you know, I still like you way more than Seifer."
"Touching, Chicken-wuss."
Squall rolled his eyes at the two blonds and turned to the headmaster. "Uncle Cid, we need to put Garden on the correct course, and then you need to show me the most recent files on both the Garden-based SeeDs and whatever you have on the Alexander's crew. I want to know who's in Balamb right now, who might be in Trabia, and if there's a chance that anyone might have their fingers in Galbadia."
"Of course," Cid agreed, motioning for Squall to follow him back into Garden.
"Get some food in there somewhere, Leonhart!" Seifer shouted after them before the emergency door clicked shut between them.
"I can have something delivered up from the kitchens," Cid suggested, "assuming there's not already something for the bridge evening shift."
"As long as it's not hot dogs," Squall muttered before telling his GFs, "Tell him that he and the others need to head for bed. And he knows I'll know if he decides to skip out on sleep."
His GFs laughed in his head and Squall heard Diablos relaying his message, even as Cid asked, "Squall?"
Squall touched his head. "Seifer can hear them, too."
Cid beamed. "That's quite helpful indeed." He let out a sad sigh, shoulders drooping. "If only Edea and I had thought to use such, I might have at least known something was wrong."
Squall grimaced and nodded.
'Your asshole says not to waste your magic, he's going to bed,' Diablos reported as Squall and Cid got into the lift.
"Why is he my asshole?" Squall complained.
'Who else's would he be?' Diablos replied before calling, obviously to Seifer, 'You're an asshole because I say you're an asshole.'
"Well I don't want him, have someone return him. And stop with the name-calling, Diablos. You're as bad as he is."
Laughter rang out in his head, loud and distracting enough that Squall had to wait in the middle of the second floor hallway, outside Cid's office, for them to shut up so he could concentrate on walking again. Shiva kindly passed Squall's comment on to Seifer, and the knight's amusement was warm against the back of Squall's mind.
"Now shut up, all of you, so I can focus," Squall ordered as he started walking after Cid again.
Cid chuckled. "On second thought, maybe we were better without GFs," he commented.
"Let's go with definitely," Squall retorted and the headmaster laughed again.
Seifer found him the next morning, dozing over the papers strewn across the conference table he'd commandeered. Reading the reports and SeeD records had proved more sleep-inducing than he'd expected, though he had been able to give Tonberry three possible allies to keep his eyes out for in Galbadia, so at least the night hadn't been wasted.
"Come on, Squally," Seifer teased, tugging him out of his chair. "Breakfast, then you can drag people back here to help sort through this."
Squall hummed thoughtfully as he let Seifer lead him out to the lift. "The only one I trust to help me with that is Sis. Or Quisty, if she was here. Hey, Bahamut–"
'One of the Alexander's crew was in the Trabia infirmary,' Bahamut reported before Squall could finish asking. 'She was itching to return to her scout anyway and is happy to pass on the message. We'll meet up with the ship in a couple minutes.'
"Perfect. Thank you. If they don't hightail it out of there, feel free to drop a Mega Flare to aft."
Seifer laughed at his side while Bahamut rumbled, 'With pleasure, Sorcerer.'
Zell, Irvine, and Elle were waiting for them in the cafeteria, two extra trays sat in front of open seats between them. "Seifer said you fell asleep," Zell joked, nudging Squall's shoulder once he'd sat between him and Irvine.
Squall raised an eyebrow at his knight, who replied with a shrug and explained, "Diablos and I had words last night." Then he narrowed his eyes. "And excuse you, Leonhart, but I was here first; if either of us is getting returned, it's you."
Squall snorted and looked towards Elle. "Could you help me sort through all that paperwork? Uncle Cid isn't great at keeping things organised, and it's clearly putting me to sleep."
The others laughed, Seifer the loudest and meanest of the lot, just because he could. (An inside glimpse of his knight's real emotions made it a lot harder to be bothered by his usual callous face, which Squall had long trained himself to be mostly unbothered by, anyway.)
"I'm happy to help, Squall," Elle agreed cheerfully.
"What about the rest of us?" Zell requested, a well of hope in the words.
Squall considered that for a couple bites, then swallowed and asked, "Can I assume Garden is not weaponised in its mobility?"
"They couldn't find anything that looked like a weapon," Irvine agreed. "No controls for it, and the group that walked the perimeter didn't report anything that looked like any of the weapons we know the Centrans possessed."
"So it's very likely any fighting between ourselves and Galbadia will be done with handguns and personal weapons," Squall murmured, nodding. "Good. Irvine, Zell, can you two hunt down a few other bodies – SeeD or cadet, I don't care – and set up weapons lockers near the main entrance, the Secret Area, the first floor emergency exit, and any other possible entrances I'm drawing a blank on? Prioritise long-range weapons, since most members of Balamb keep short-range weapons on their person."
"You got it, man," Zell agreed while Irvine made an affirmative sound.
Squall glanced across the table at Seifer, who raised an eyebrow at him. "Pull a couple of SeeDs or any cadets who can work with you and make a run of Garden. I need to know our weak points, the most defensible positions, what areas can be completely closed down if we need to conserve power, anything."
Seifer nodded and sat his fork down. "Do you need an inventory, while we're working on all that?" His tone was mocking, but they both knew it was a valid question.
"Let me check with Uncle Cid and I'll let you know," Squall decided. "It's possible he's already got someone on it."
"Do you have a time frame for all of this?" Irvine asked, military efficiency in his tone.
"By the time we reach Trabia. So..." Squall frowned in thought for a moment, trying to calculate what he knew about Garden's current speed versus his knowledge of how far away Trabia Garden would have been for Alexander and walking on foot. "Two days, approximately. I'd like to have the main entrance's weapons lockers and one by the first floor exit done by the end of the day, if you can, but let's avoid sending anyone to Doc Kadowaki with strained muscles."
Irvine snorted. "I think we can manage that much, at least."
"You say that," Zell muttered, "but Hyne alone knows the state of the weapons lockers right now."
Squall considered that for a moment, then announced, "I have every faith in your ability to manage the task."
"Is it the apocalypse?" Seifer joked. "Squall Leonhart is giving motivational speeches, now."
"Seifer?"
"Squally?"
"Get out of my hair before I reassign you to private ice magic tutoring."
His knight laughed, honestly amused, and stood from the table. "Kinneas, Dincht, let's go shift some of these lazy bodies clogging the cafeteria."
Squall waited until the three men were a few tables away, Seifer calling attention to himself in the most obnoxious way possible, then stood up with a sigh and started collecting the forgotten trays. "Let's get out of here before the bloodbath starts."
Elle followed after him, giggling.
1 - Water in My Eyes ||| 2 - Delusional Sunset ||| 3 - Reach For Your Metal
4 - Carry This Burden Alone ||| 5 - Somewhere Worse Than Here ||| 6 - Bound and Breakin'
7 - Clouds of Sulphur |||
10 - Burning in the Skies ||| 11 - Colour of Your Soul ||| 12 - Beneath My Wings
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