Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

One (Last) Chance	By : RotSeele Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Seifer/Squall Views: 3719 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 25
- 26
- 27
Twenty-Six - Seifer POV

Squall didn’t waste any time getting Nida to take us to Fisherman’s Horizon. Once there, he packed up the kids, Edea, Rinoa, and myself, and ushered us all off Balamb Garden and onto the tracks overlooking FH. He pointed then, and said, “We’ll follow the tracks that way. Esthar’s pretty far, so if you’re having second thoughts, you can stay here.”
Of course, no one was having those ‘second thoughts’. Everyone wanted to see the legendary city of Esthar, the city that was so xenophobic that it wouldn’t even allow traders in, let alone a group of heavily armed teenagers and a sorceress. Hell, I wasn’t even having second thoughts, even though I knew what we were heading into. I closed my eyes briefly and allowed myself to feel again the touch of Squall’s lips against mine, the rough, chapped flesh pressing lightly against my skin. His promise. That meant more to me that anything else right now.
Squall opted to carry Rinoa piggyback rather than use a stretcher or allow anyone else (especially me) to touch her. I caught the looks Quistis and Selphie gave Squall’s back, and interpreted them as “aw, how romantic!” It made me grimace, which earned a look from Squall. I shrugged and grinned at him. He rolled his eyes and led our ragtag parade down the tracks, sticking to the front and letting the rest of us fall in where we may.
“You two are still fighting,” Matron said sadly. “I would have thought you would have been friends by now.”
I looked down at the woman who had raised me my entire young life. “We only fight because he stands up to me. It makes life interesting.”
Edea frowned and met my gaze. Her golden eyes searched my face, trying to figure out the mystery I was presenting her. Her lips pressed into a thin line as the answer continued to remain elusive. “There’s something different about you.” she said at last.
“Oh, yeah?” I grinned at her.
An elegant eyebrow rose. Then a knowing smile spread across her face as she looked from me to Squall, who continued to trudge ahead of us without showing any sign of weariness. As if sensing her stare, Squall paused to look back at us, his stormy gaze switching from me to Edea and back again. His expression became that of a confused kitten, wanting to be let in on the secret but not quite sure he’d like the answer. With a shake of his head, Squall continued walking, hitching Rinoa up higher on his back.
Edea looked back at me, that knowing smile still on her face. “Good for you, Seifer. Good for you.”
“Thanks... what?” I said, a shocked tone in my voice.
Edea laughed, a warm, rich sound. “When you two were little, you’d argue and fight from sunup to sundown, but heaven forbid I try to separate the two of you even for time out. It was like watching night and day. For all of Squall’s silence, you made up for it in spades.”
I rubbed the back of my head. I didn’t remember anything she was describing, but I figured she was telling the truth, only because Squall and I had been at each other’s throats as long as I could remember. It was only now - after Squall had lived all this once before - that we were working together as well as we could. Which mostly meant me following Squall’s orders without much questioning or complaining.
To avoid letting my embarrassment get the better of me, I asked, “So why are you going with us to Esthar, Matron?”
Edea’s smile became troubled. “I must go see Doctor Odine.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Odine.” Zell said, coming abreast of Edea and me. “You’ve heard the name, right?”
“Humor me, chicken-wuss, and assume I haven’t.”
Zell glowered at me and looked to Edea like she was going to reprimand me. When there was no movement from her other than to give Zell an encouraging smile, Zell blew out a breath. “You know the famous Odine brand, don’t you?” He waved his hand in the air like he was trying to will a piece of this Odine brand out of thin air. “That’s all Dr. Odine’s work. When it comes to knowledge about the sorceress, he’s number one...”
I nodded, fully understanding now. I looked at Edea. “So that’s why you need to see him, huh? Because he’s pretty much the expert when it comes to all things sorceress.”
Edea nodded slowly. She clasped her hands together against her stomach. “Sorceress Ultimecia is alive. She is able to take control of my body at any time. If that were to happen... I would once again bring terror. I, too, value my well-being. I want to protect myself. If it were possible, I would like to rid myself of the sorceress’ power. Doctor Odine may know a way. He may be able to save me.”
I glanced toward Squall, who was continuing to walk forward with Rinoa laying limply across his back. “Then let’s get to Esthar. Sooner we do that, sooner we might be able to go home.”
Edea smiled brightly at me, and seeing the hope in her eyes made me hate myself a little bit. I knew what was going to happen from here on out, only because Squall had told me. I wasn’t so naive as to believe he had told me everything, though. He had left out details that he would let come to light in their own time. I found myself hoping that everything would work out this time, that he wouldn’t find all his efforts being for nothing. I guess that was what my role was going to be from here on out - protecting the guy who was trying to protect us.
We stopped to rest close to sunset, and Selphie and Irvine volunteered to go ahead. As they disappeared into the distance, Squall set Rinoa down and stretched to loosen muscles gone tight by carrying his burden for such a long distance. I started toward Squall, but instead of touching him, I crouched down beside Rinoa, studying her angelic, sleeping face. Squall was staring off into the distance, as if watching for Irvine and Selphie’s return. I knew he was trying to steel himself for what was to come, for what he was going to have to do while we were in Esthar. I glanced up at him, studying the cold lines of his face, seeing the blankness for what it really was. He was trying to bury expectations and his wants beneath the heavy mantle of what he needed to do to see success. He was trying to tell himself that it was his duty to see this through, that it was his duty to sacrifice any wants and needs he might have to ensure the safety of his team, of me, of this innocent girl that got caught up in this story of ours. He looked down at me then, his icy blue-grey eyes studying my face. I didn’t expect him to say anything.
I smirked. “She’s cute when she’s sleeping, isn’t she?”
He rolled his eyes and looked away from me.
“Are you blushing?”
His eyes narrowed.
I laughed. “I know, I know. I’m the only one who can make you do that.”
He looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. I grinned at him. He only rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest.
I rose and stood beside him, looking for the return of the intrepid explorers myself. “If you know where it is, why let them run off?”
“Because,” Squall started, his voice quiet, “I wanted to take a moment to breathe. She doesn’t look it, but Rinoa’s heavy.”
I laughed, earning a few worried looks from those who had remained behind with us. Even Edea looked over at us, a confused expression on her face. Squall pointedly ignored me, making it seem like I was the one who had found something terribly amusing about the whole situation rather than the words he’d said. I sobered quickly enough, though I couldn’t stop the grin from staying on my face. “I could carry her for you,” I offered.
Squall shook his head. “I’m fine. I’ve done it before.”
“That was Before,” I said, accenting the word, “when everyone thought you and she were the perfect couple. The good sorceress and her knight. If I’m going to be Rinoa’s knight too, then it’s only fair that I carry her.”
Squall looked up at me with a strange expression to his eyes. His lips curled downward slightly, as if he were trying to frown but hadn’t quite committed to the expression. Finally, he shrugged. “If you want to.”
“Hey, if anyone is going to get to sit back and watch the great Commander Leonhart in action, it’s going to be me. That way, I can appreciate you from afar.”
His lips twitched into a smile and there was the faintest touch of pink to his cheeks. He shook his head, keeping his silence this time.
It didn’t take long for Selphie and Irvine to return. Squall, of course, wasn’t surprised by their report that they couldn’t find the city of Esthar anywhere, north or south, so it was agreed that we would try going east. Squall didn’t argue with them. He only looked at me, then glanced at Rinoa. With a soft grunt (Hyne, she was heavy!) I picked Rinoa up and hauled her onto my back, piggyback style, like Squall had been carrying her. Then we headed east from Seaside Station, with Squall slightly in the lead. He kept his silence even as Selphie and Irvine chatted about the nothing they had found, sounding confused the entire time. I mean, how could a city as large as Esthar just not be anywhere to be found? Squall wasn’t forthcoming in his explanation, big surprise there, but his stride was confident and he wasn’t glancing back at me to make sure I was still behind him with Rinoa. He trusted me to be at his back, trusted me to take care of our princess. And we still had a long way to go.
We ended up at a long, blank stretch of land that was the Great Salt Lake. Selphie let out a low whistle and raised a hand to cover her eyes. “Hello...” she said, her voice curious and worried, “I don’t see a city...”
Irvine lightly touched her shoulder, and with a glance toward Squall for permission, the two of them headed off to run ahead again, disappearing into the distance.
Edea let out a long sigh. “Looks like we are in for a long trip.”
“Everything’ll be all right.” Zell said, his tone confident. “We’ll be by your side all the way!”
Edea smiled at him, but it was sad, her golden eyes worried. “Thank you Zell. But remember, you must stay alert even in my presence. As long as I can be myself, everything will be fine. But if Ultimecia gets inside me again... You all know what to do...”
“Matron,” Squall said, breaking his silence for the first time since the station, “you don’t have to worry about Ultimecia anymore. She won’t bother you again.”
Edea’s sad smile turned confused, but before she could press Squall for answers, Selphie and Irvine returned. Selphie’s broad grin lessened until it vanished completely from her face and she looked between all of us, as if trying to glean the answer from our expressions. “What, what, did I miss something? Uh-oh, it’s so quiet. The air’s getting heavy. Guys... What’s wrong? COME ON! We’re all together again! We’re gonna bring back Rinoa! It’s like a picnic! We’re gonna have fun!”
Squall sighed silently. “...Somebody once told me that if you mention bad things, they’ll come true. I know it’s a silly superstition, but right now I want to believe it. So let’s not talk about it anymore.”
He started forward as he said this, making the rest of us fall into step behind him. We crossed through the Great Salt Lake, always heading deeper into it. Squall seemed to know where he was going, so no one questioned him or his confidence. When he unsheathed Lion Heart about halfway in, I knew something was about to happen. Squall was the only one to be able to keep some semblance of balance when the ground began to shake, and I could see him grimace in a mix of annoyance and irritation. I almost felt bad for the Abadon that attacked us, watching Squall, Selphie, and Zell engage the creature. Being undead, the monster was susceptible to healing magic and healing items, and it didn’t take long before it was dead (re-dead?) and we were moving on.
Squall stopped suddenly and the rest of us ranged around him, looking confused. Hell, even I thought Squall was going crazy when he started to look around at the horizon like there was something actually in front of him. None of us could see anything but the distant horizon and the landscape surrounding us. Squall seemed unfazed by the fact that we were surrounded by nothing, and continued to seem unfazed even as the kids questioned his sanity aloud when he started pawing at what seemed to be thin air. Hell, even I thought he had finally lost it.
Then he looked at me, pinning me with that stormy gaze of his. “...There’s something here.”
As if to accent his words, a hole opened up in the nothing that was before us. I let out a string of curses that was accompanied by various exclamations by the others, and Squall just looked at me with a smug (for Squall) expression, as if he was daring me to question him again.
“Come on.” Squall said. He didn’t wait for us to agree; he climbed into the hole and disappeared into the murk.
One by one the others followed him, with me and my unconscious burden bringing up the rear. Squall was waiting for us beside a lift, his arms crossed over his chest in that familiar nervous gesture. I wondered if he was nervous about something other than meeting his dad for the first (well, second) time, but I didn’t bother to ask. I wasn’t supposed to know that, after all. We boarded the lift with Squall being the last. He didn’t pay much attention as the lift zoomed us through a tunnel, causing many more exclamations from the others and expletives from me. When the lift finally stopped, a door opened and a walkway stretched out before us. Squall said nothing as he led the way down the walkway and into another tunnel. We came to a dead end.
Squall didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. We had come too far to give up now, and even though we were looking out upon nothing, Squall’s quiet confidence kept us from attempting to turn around and leave.
It was a good thing we didn’t.
The dead end wasn’t that at all. The air before us began to shimmer and shake, and at last disappeared, revealing that the salt lake wasn’t endless at all, but a visual trick. A giant city revealed itself, sparkling like a jewel in the sunlight. I felt my jaw drop open in surprise at the sight of the place, staring at all of the metal and tall buildings and technology I’d never seen before. This was Esthar? This place? This was the city that Squall’s dad, Laguna Loire, ruled?
Holy shit.
The lift started to move again, going faster and faster, though I didn’t feel a change in speed at all. It finally stopped at a platform far below where we originally had been. We got off, one by one, and stood on the platform, facing a closed tunnel that led deeper into Esthar. Everything seemed quiet, too quiet, and I could feel myself tensing the longer we were left out there, waiting.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Squall beginning to sway. There was an expression on his face that said he was going to kill someone, and I realized immediately that Ellone was trying to reach him in the only way she knew how. Was she in danger? Was she simply trying to communicate with Squall? I didn’t have time to answer those questions and Squall was in no condition to do so either. I spun as Squall started to go down, and I grabbed him around the shoulders with my free arm. Everyone else seemed shocked as we both went down to our knees. I grunted as I hit, but Squall had already slipped under. His head lolled against my shoulder, his body limp and unresponsive. The others gathered around us, looking concerned and questioning me about Squall’s condition, but I didn’t have any answers for them. I could only hope that Squall would come back to us soon.
- 25
- 26
- 27
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

One (Last) Chance