* * * * *

7

I found Seifer in the town's saloon half an hour later hunched over his drink. Here we'd been running around thinking foul play, me worried sick whether he was all right considering his condition, and he had just been enjoying a beer at the local pub.

As quietly as I could I crept up until I was standing right behind him. Shaking my head silently in frustration, I just stared at his back for a moment. He hadn't brought his coat and part of me cringed as I saw what the impact had done to his back. The shirt had holes, both large and small, dotting the back as well as bloodstains surrounding some of the tears. In the bar's dark ambience the shirt simply looked dirty and worn out, but I knew better; hopefully no one else had noticed as well.

"Why don't you just take a seat, Instructor," Seifer asked calmly, not looking up from his drink.

So much for the element of surprise. "How'd you know I was there?" I asked, pulling up a stool beside him.

He just smirked, still staring at his cup. "Don't you know every bar has a mirror behind it? It's probably so one can see their opponent coming up behind them."

Shoot, he was right, there was a mirror behind the bottles on the far wall. "So now I'm an opponent," I stated, signaling the bartender. "Orange twist on the rocks."

The bartender eyed me strangely before setting me up. I was used to it; it often amused me to order orange juice with ice at a bar like this.

"Heh, a teetotaler. Figures."

I knew without looking that Seifer probably had a sneer on his face and chose to ignore it. I wanted to rail at him right then and there about why he'd left the hotel, but said instead, "I'd just rather not have my abilities hampered by alcohol, is all."

Seifer just snorted and took another swig of his drink, saying nothing.

The silence stretched out until I couldn't take it anymore. "Why'd you leave the hotel, Seifer?"

"What, am I under house arrest now?"

One thing about Seifer, he knew how to push my buttons. I usually managed to cover my reactions, never rising to his goading, but not this time. Slamming my drink on the bar hard enough to make him jump I grabbed his shirt collar and turned him on the barstool to face me. "Did it ever occur to you that someone might just be looking out for your well-being? Geez Seifer, you hit a solid rock wall going at least a hundred miles an hour, probably got a concussion even with that shield spell, and here you are getting your sorry self drunk?"

He wasn't able to keep a shocked expression from flickering across his face. It quickly turned to anger in the middle of my statement, then neutral again as he snatched back away from me. "I told you once Instructor, I don't need or want your pity."

"Hyne, you are SO dense!" I felt like wringing his neck then and there, I was so frustrated. "Have you ever considered some people don't need guilt to prompt them into helping you?"

"Whatever," he muttered, hunching back over his drink.

Boy, I'd bet he would just love knowing how like Squall he sounded. I forced myself to calm down, taking a drink of juice while counting to ten before I spoke again. "Look, you had what could have been a serious accident happen to you today. Irvine and I had to drag you back here, as well as put you to bed ourselves. We all, you especially, need to get some rest as we're leaving as early as possible tomorrow. Irvine briefed me on the mission while we thought you were sleeping..."

"I'm not doing the mission, I told you that."

He sounded just like a whining baby; he obviously wasn't a very happy drunk. I wasn't going to tell him that though, we needed to get out of here before we attracted more attention than we already had. Stares from around the room had settled on the two of us, making me think we may need to move our plans of leaving up to tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. "Listen Seifer, the mission has been changed." His head snapped up in surprise, but I didn't give him time to talk. "Irvine briefed me on it, but I'd rather we step outside before..."

"Can I buy the little lady a drink?"

I hadn't heard the man come up behind me, and from his expression I could tell Seifer hadn't either.Rolling my eyes and hoping he’d get the hint I replied cooly, "No thank you, I'm not thirsty."

"What a shame, such a pretty lady as yourself shouldn't be alone." The voice was smooth, with a lilt of the northern regions giving it character. He moved to a better vantage point, and although he wasn't in the best of light I could make out dark hair and an aquiline face.

"She's not alone, buddy, so back off." Seifer's voice was a low growl, and the hand resting on the bar was clenched into a fist.

"Really," the man drawled, "from the sounds of your argument I would have thought you wanted rid of her."

Warning bells went of in my head: this man had been listening to our conversation. I turned to Seifer and started to tell him "Let's get out of here," just as the back of the man's hand brushed across my neck.

My words froze in my throat and I shoved away from the bar, nearly tripping over the stool in my haste. The fact that I hadn't expected the touch, that he'd gotten past my guard so easily, was part of the reason for my jumpiness. The main reason, however, was that I could have sworn I'd felt something cold slither across my mind at the contact.

The man took a step toward me, and with a snarl Seifer launched himself at him. They crashed onto a nearby table, scattering the table's cardplaying inhabitants, then rolled onto the floor, the sound of fists connecting with bone a clear sound.

With a start I realized Seifer had no weapon, having left his gunblade back in the room with his coat. Uncoiling my whip I started in only to hear the cocking of a rifle right behind my head.

All action stopped as the bartender leveled the large gun on the two men. "There is no fighting allowed in my bar," he growled. "Get out of here before I add holes to ya nature never intended."

I hid my whip in case the barkeep saw it as a threat. In the dim light it could probably pass as a simple bullwhip, but I'd rather they not catch wind of the various upgrades it had gone through to make it infinitely more dangerous. There was a big difference between an ordinary whip and Save The Queen.

Reaching down I grabbed Seifer and hoisted him to his feet. "Let's get out of here now," I hissed, and drug him by the hand out the door and into the night.

*

"What were you doing back there, Seifer?" I asked as we walked along the sidewalk.

"What do you think I was doing?" he replied back in a neutral tone, not even bothering to look at me.

I felt a headache begin to grow on either side of my head, and paused next to a wood building to massage my temples. "Seifer, please don't do this. I'm seriously not in the mood for your games tonight."

"You're not in the mood?" Seifer asked in a low voice. "YOU'RE not in the mood, Miss Instructor?"

Oh great, what did I do now? Sick of beating around the bush and walking on eggshells around him because of something I didn't even do, I asked in an icy voice, "Is there something you'd like to discuss, Seifer?"

He walked back and forth in front of me twice more, then came to a stop directly facing me. "Why are you being doing this, being 'nice' to me?" he blurted out.

The question startled me. I had been expecting something perhaps a little more confrontational, to say the least; this blindsided me. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, why are you doing this, trying to help me all of a sudden." He ran a hand over his face, clearly agitated, but I didn't know at whom or what. "I heard what you said to Irvine on the train. Why?"

I wasn't sure if I understood the question - he was asking why I was defending him? Carefully considering my words, I replied, "I have a lot to make up for myself in letting you down, and I'm starting now."

"That's just it," he ground out. "You don't have to. I deserved all of it and more."

The words sounded as though they’d been ripped from him, but I could tell he meant every word. "That's not true," I replied, startled.

He just stared at me. "Isn't it?"

I stood there fumbling for words, trying to figure out something to say in response but everything I came up with would be a lie on my part. Staring at Seifer, at the tortured expression on his face, I realized that I agreed with him; my head told me what was honorable and to forgive him, but my heart refused, still branding him a traitor. And I was ashamed.

"I deceived my friends, betrayed them at every turn, and tried to kill them. And I...I wanted it. I absolutely reveled in the power I had been given, because I could finally get back at you all."

"Get back at us for what?" I asked softly.

He closed his eyes and turned his head away. "For being everything I wanted to be, and wasn't." He gave a hollow laugh and leaned against a post, shaking his head. "I really was a fool today back on the train, wasn't I? So desperate for anonymity that I almost got myself killed."

My anger at him dissipated, but I didn't know what to say. Right then, I desperately wished it was Rinoa and not me who had to deal with this. The sorceress would have known what to say to help him, whereas I was being as helpful as dirt. I longed to say something, anything to alleviate his obvious pain.

I heard footsteps and saw Seifer's head snap up, his eyes focussing past me. Without looking I sprang away from the sound, uncoiling Save the Queen and whirled around to face whatever it was. Seifer crouched low, his hands clenching into fists as he moved in beside me.

Three dark shapes shifted, then launched themselves at the two of us. Choosing one, I lashed out with the whip even as I dodged the swipe of a katana blade. Shoot, but these guys were fast. My second snap missed my target entirely and I barely managed to keep from being skewered. The lunge, however, gave me an opening with my opponent for a splint second and without coiling the whip I lashed out, catching the figure in the side. He let out a shriek and fell away, giving me at least a moment to help Seifer.

Even with just his fists he managed to stay afloat well, giving as good as he got, but I watched as one lunge broke through his blocks and a blade sliced his side. He gave a grunt and swung at the opponent just as I sent the whip out. Both connected simultaneously and the assailant was thrown backwards into a blind alley.

Something hit me in the shoulder hard enough to spin me around. I heard Seifer shout my name and looked down to see a barbed arrowhead sticking several inches out the front of my shoulder. Gritting my teeth against the pain I transferred my whip to my other hand and went in to help Seifer when my legs buckled. I went to my knees just as I saw a dark shape rise up on my left and knew we were done for.

There was a wooshing sound, and I saw the shadow to my left get propelled backwards even as the distinctive sound of a gunblade rang through the air.

Something small and very fast flew past my vision, and I followed it to where it connected on Rinoa's wrist. Selphie and Zell appeared next to her looking ready for some action, and their shoulders slumped as they saw everything had already been taken care of. Seifer took an unsteady step back from the prone body before him, but the tension hadn’t yet left his stance.

"Miss us?" I heard an achingly familiar voice beside me ask, and looked up through the darkness to see Squall swing his gunblade to his shoulder and offer me his other hand.