‘I’m unconscious again, aren’t I?’
     ‘Yes, you are.’
     ‘Why? Why does this happen whenever I use my full power? Is it because I’m weak?’
     ‘No, you’re not weak.’
     ‘Then why do I keep winding up like this?’
     ‘Because you put your heart into your spells. You want them to succeed and save those you love so that you pour all of your energy into them.’
     ‘Is that true?’
     ‘Yes, it is. You saved Seifer and Irvine. You saved the other SeeDs and your friends from your world with that last summons spell.’
     ‘Who are you? You know an awful lot about me, but who exactly are you?’
     ‘I... am you, or an extension of you. I’m Alexander, your esper, the one who is now bonded to you for all of eternity.’
     Alex awoke, slowly opening one eye. In front o him he saw dirty blonde hair. He rolled over and wound up face to face with Irvine, who was fast asleep and dreaming deeply.
     ‘So those two did want to be this close to me,’ he thought as he lightly kissed Irvine on the nose before rolling over to bury his face in the back of Seifer’s head. He inhaled deeply the smells of the day’s battles, the faint odor of his conditioner, and his own personal aroma.
     ‘They care a lot for you,’ Alexander said in his mind, ‘which is why your magic is so powerful when they’re around.’
     ‘Yes, I know,’ Alex replied mentally as he wrapped an arm over Seifer’s shoulder. Finding that somewhat uncomfortable he slipped his arm under the covers and wrapped it around Seifer’s chest. A moment late Seifer rolled over, and he nearly fainted from shock and a lack of oxygen as he held his breath in suspense.
     After many moments he exhaled. ‘He’s fast asleep. Good. He looks so wonderful when he’s asleep.’
     He stiffened again and held his breath as Irvine slipped an arm around him and curled up closer to him. After a few more moments he exhaled again, curled up against Seifer’s chest, and fell asleep.

     The following day was when the Slayers were scheduled to return home, and it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining warmly upon the land, the sky was clear and blue. Birds and butterflies flitted about peacefully, not a care in the world.
     Many of the SeeDs were present at this sendoff, as were the instructors of Garden. For some odd reason Seifer was the only one absent from the ceremony and festivities.
     “Are we all here?” Zelgadis asked as he looked around, taking a head count mentally.
     “Yeah, I think so,” Lina said, “we have Alex and Sylphiel, and Alex’s stuff has been sent back through subspace.”
     “Technically it’s linked through subspace and hyper space,” Squall said as he shook everyone’s hands.
     “Which means the room is off limits except to a few selected people,” Irvine said, holding up a golden chain with a small golden and silver key attached to it.
     “Did anyone think to tell Seifer bout that?” Selphie said, noting his absence. “I mean, he is going to be missing you terribly.”
     “Oh well,” Alex sighed, his heart having been set upon seeing Seifer one last time, kissing him one last time, holding him one last time. He sighed once again and said, “Hopefully he’ll come to visit me at some point.”
     “Time to go,” Celia said as everyone formed a circle. Zelgadis and Lina cast a wind barrier spell, forming a circular shield around them. Amelia added Levitation to the mix, and Sylphiel cast a protection spell. The result was a solid bubble around them, which slowly rose into the sky.

<music: Voices from Macross Plus>
     As the bubble rose into the sky the group watched the scenery as it passed them by. The plains and hills joined with mountains and rivers, which ultimately joined the ocean. Nick was glancing around when he noticed something in the distance. As the object approached he tapped Alex on the shoulder. When he didn’t get a response he grabbed his arm, whipped him around, and pointed to it.
     Alex’s eyes widened in amazement when he saw Seifer riding atop what appeared to be a dragon, his coat billowing out around him, a look comprised if amazement, terror, and happiness upon his face. As he neared it was apparent it was no dragon he was riding, but a newly revived Ridley. Seifer held up his left hand, and from that dangled Alex’s original piece of materia, the glow freshly restored.
     In a motion that made everyone’s heart jump Alex leapt from the bubble, a mystic aura forming around him as he cast a Levitation spell to ease his fall. Ridley banked sharply upward, Seifer nearly falling from his precarious perch as his mount moved suddenly. Alex held his arms wide, and as Ridley began to pass him by he caught hold of Seifer, who wrapped his arms around Alex and embraced him. Ridley banked off to the left and took them into a gentle downward spiral towards the ground.
     “I’m so glad you came to see me off,” Alex said as he buried his face in Seifer’s shoulder.
     “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” Seifer replied, holding Alex closer and inhaling deeply the aroma of his hair. He kissed the top of Alex’s head and said, “I’m sorry I was late, but I needed to prepare your going away present.”
     “But I already have a summons,” Alex said when he realized that Seifer had clasped the chain around his neck that contained his original piece of materia.
     Seifer gently took his chin and lifted it so that they were looking eye to eye. “You can never have too many friends, and your espers are some of your closest friends.”
     Alex wrapped his arms around Seifer’s neck and hugged him once again. “Thank you,” he said, “thank you so very much.”
     A couple of minutes later they touched down, and both slid down Ridley’s arm to the ground. Seifer craned his neck skyward to see a faint glimmer that was the bubble containing the Slayers. The glimmer grew brilliant for a moment before vanishing completely.
     ‘They’re on their way home,’ Ridley said in his mind, ‘and we should be going home soon too.’
     “We will, we will,” Alex said, rubbing Ridley’s snout playfully.
     “He just said something about going home, didn’t he?” Seifer said. Alex nodded. “Then I guess I shouldn’t keep you.”
     As he turned to walk off Alex said, “You know you can visit me any time you want.”
     “How?” he asked without turning around, thrusting his hands into his coat pockets. “I don’t have abilities like you do.”
     A pair of hands gently encircled something around his neck, and he heard the click of a clasp being set. Something cold and metallic slid down the neck of his shirt, resting midway down his chest. He fished it out to find a key of gold and silver. He turned to see Alex smiling behind him.
     “This is one of the keys to my room,” Alex said happily, “You, Irvine, and a couple of other people have keys to it, so you can unlock it and step through subspace and hyper space to visit me.”
     “How is this possible?” he asked moments before Alex bounced up to him, kissed him on each cheek and then on the lips, and leapt onto Ridley’s back.
     “I’d explain the mathematics to you, but even I can’t understand all of them. You take care now, ya hear!” Alex called as Ridley took to the air. He waved to Seifer, who waved back. “Ridley, take us to escape velocity and then we’ll go home.”
     ‘All right,’ Ridley said in his mind, ‘Just make sure you focus on home so that we don’t wind up lost in subspace again.’
     “You just don’t trust me, do you?”
<music: ‘Heart of Sword’ by T.M. Revolution>
     The dragon creature sailed higher into the sky, cutting through the wind as easily as a hot knife through butter. They made a second pass over the crowd below, Alex happily waving to everyone. Ridley banked upwards, catching a thermal updraft that sent him screaming into the wild blue yonder.
     ‘Escape velocity has been reached,’ Ridley said as he flapped his wings.
     “Then let’s go home!” Alex exclaimed as a gateway opened before them. They entered subspace and the gateway slammed shut behind them. They were finally going home.

     On the ground stood Seifer, who shielded his eyes from the sun as he watched the dragon creature and its rider as they went home. When he saw a brilliant glimmer followed by nothing he sighed and looked back towards the ground.
     “Well, he’s going home,” he said as he began to walk off towards the shore, “he’s really gone.”
     “That he is,” someone said from beside him. He turned his head to see Zell, Irvine, Rinoa, and Quistis. It was apparent that Zell was the speaker, since he grinned and waved at Seifer.
     “We figured you shouldn’t be alone at a time like this,” Rinoa said as she jogged up and linked her arm through his. “Besides, the party is for you and Irvine as well.”
     “What? What are you talking about?” he asked, a little stunned and confused.
     “It seems it’s a victory celebration for us,” Irvine said as he linked his arm through Seifer’s other arm.
     “You’re kidding.”
     “No joke,” Zell said, “you guys may have done some stupid things, but you helped us to find the sorceress’ castle. You saved us when we were being drained, and you also kept Alex going when he looked ready to give up.”
     “Which means you’re all heroes,” Quistis said, “isn’t that wonderful?”
     “Yeah,” Seifer said as he took Irvine’s hat and set it on his own head, “it’s wonderful.”
     Seifer turned the group around as they linked arms to walk back toward the celebration, smiles on their faces.

     In 2001, right above the mini dorms of the university a portal opened and belched out a bubble containing Lina, Zelgadis, and their group. The bubble descended toward the ground before bursting, dumping them into a fresh pile of snow.
     “Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!” Lina said, her teeth chattering.
     “I’d guess we were gone for a few days,” Mackenzie said as he surveyed his surroundings.
     “Go back to sleep,” Nick said as he pushed his brother’s face back into the snow.
     “Sleep?” Gourry said as he dug himself out of the snow.
     “Yes yogurt brain, sleep,” Lina grumbled as she shook the snow from her hair. She shivered as a few flakes found their way down the back of her shirt.
     “I’m glad we made it safely through that trip,” Amelia said as she wrapped herself into her cape, “but now I want a good meal, a hot bath, and a long rest.”
     “I call dibs on the shower,” Celia said as she bounded out of the snow, only to have Lina and Sylphiel leap onto her back.
     “The shower is MINE!” they growled before turning on one another.
     “I’ll see you guys back at the apartment,” Zelgadis said as he turned to walk into Alex’s dorm.
     “Where are you going?” Nick asked as he released Mackenzie from a death grip.
     “To use the shower in Alex’s hallway. That way I don’t need to fight with you guys.”
     As soon as he took three steps a second portal opened above them, belching out a dragon creature moving at hyper sonic speeds. The dragon looped into the air before diving straight at them. The dragon vanished, propelling a lone figure into a large pile of snow. The figure impacted, spraying flakes of snow and chunks of ice everywhere.
     “Koala,” echoed out of the hole where the person had impacted. From the hole crawled Alex, who was busy nursing a bruised butt from crash down.
     “Thank goodness we’re all back,” Amelia said as she flicked a shard of ice from her hair, “now we can resume life as usual.”
     “Speak for yourself,” Lina grumbled before smacking Amelia over the head with an astral hammer, “whoever said that we were usual?!”
     “What I meant to say was...”
     “Oh, save it for later. Right now I’m hungry!!”
     As the others argued, Alex blinked into the shadows, phasing through the door and into his building. He punched the combination for his door before opening it and stepping through subspace and hyper space into a room twice the size of one that should be there.
     “Not bad,” he said as he closed the door behind him. He slipped his coat off and draped it over the back of his desk chair as he looked around at the seamless blending of his room on earth with his room in Balamb Garden through the use of subspace and hyper space. He kicked off his boots, dropped his charms and the other objects from his pockets onto the night table, curled up on his bed, and was asleep almost instantly.

     Across the barriers of time and space two forms slinked silently through the hallways of Balamb Garden. Both were barefoot in order to be silent in their actions, and both seemed intent on a single room with a brand new lock. The bright moons outside ducked behind the cloud cover for a moment, and that was when they lunged for the door. Unfortunately they didn’t see one another in the darkness and collided headfirst.
     “Watch it,” Seifer snarled, flipping into a defensive stance. When the moons came out form behind the clouds he breathed a sigh of relief, since the other person in the hall was Irvine. “Oh... it’s only you.”
     “I take it you couldn’t sleep either,” Irvine said as Seifer helped him to his feet.
     “You might say that,” Seifer said, trying to hide the key that was wrapped around his wrist.
     “No need to be embarrassed or hide your intentions,” Irvine said as he held his key before him and swung it like a pendulum, “I miss him too.”
     “Shall we see him together?”
     “Let’s.”
     Irvine slid his key into the lock, and when it could go no further he turned it until he heard the lock click. They slowly opened the door and slipped inside. Moonlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the person curled up on the bed, fast asleep.
     “Let’s try not to disturb him,” Seifer said as he slowly slid onto the bed on the left side which was the direction the figure was facing.
     “Exactly what I had in mind,” Irvine said as he slid onto the bed on the right. They curled up with the figure, who muttered cute pet names before draping an arm over Seifer’s chest and curling up with him. In a matter of moments the three were sleeping peacefully.

The End.

     “Zell here. You think this is the end of the adventures with the SeeDs of Balamb Garden?! Boy, are you wrong! There’s more action, more adventure, and even more passion as danger threatens Alex’s home world. With so many of the warriors and Slayers stuck in bed with the flu it’s up to us to save the day. Stay tuned to Slayers Fantasy episode 2 or I’ll really cause some trouble.”
     “HEY! No stealing the lines of the red headed sorcery genius!”

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