Rinoa had stayed put through the night and Ellone was looking healthy again. Seifer was still nervous at the thought of something going wrong. Normally he was very confidant, but so many bad things could happen if they failed. The parade wasn’t until that night though, so he would have to worry all day. It did give them all a chance to eat and clean up.

            Ellone wasn’t as quiet as she had at first seemed. It appeared that all the years she hadn’t spoken much was just Squall’s influence. She spoke with them happily about their childhood years. Some of the stories that she told were news to them. Seifer recalled most of it, but he had had longer to remember these things than they had.

            “So, when do we get to hear the plan?” asked Rinoa. “As leader, I should know.” Her voice was attempting at commanding, but just came out as whiney. Seifer sighed. He didn’t know how much to tell her.

            “We attack the Sorceress and Ellone zaps her,” he said simply. The girls in the group looked at him strangely. He had already talked to Ellone about what they were planning to do in front of Irvine and Zell, so they weren’t surprised. Quistis trusted Seifer’s decision making decisions, even if they were vitally important to the survival of Squall. So, she just nodded at him. Selphie and Rinoa thought he was nuts.

            “What about Squall?” asked Selphie. Seifer cursed inwardly. He was hoping that Rinoa wouldn’t think of that.

            “I’m sure that he has a plan to keep Squall safe,” said Quistis ending the argument. She sure hoped that he did, or else she would ring his neck. She was sure getting violent these days.

            “Well, I’m not going to go far, but I want to take a walk. We do have all day,” said Rinoa. She looked anxious.

Seifer didn’t trust her, but Zell spoke up, “Yeah, me too. Hey, you can show me around!”

Rinoa’s face dropped just for a second. ‘What a dirty double crosser’, thought Seifer. They wouldn’t let her run off again.

Zell did seem enthusiastic about it though. As Rinoa, Zell, and Quistis prepared to

leave, he was the only one who looked happy. He was bouncing from foot to foot prepared to do some souvenir shopping. “Hey, this is a day to remember!” he shouted happily. It made Seifer grin. He waved them away, acting bitchy. “Hey Seifer, want me to get you a Sorceress balloon?”

            Seifer ignored him. Unfortunately no one else in the hotel lobby did. They all stared at him, giggling at his energy. It didn’t embarrass Seifer as much as it would have before the previous night. Now, whatever Zell did seemed to make him proud.

            Selphie clapped her hands. “Good, the bitch is gone!”

            Irvine smiled. “Amen to that!” Selphie had been making eyes at him all morning. Nevermind that they were a little bloodshot from lack of sleep. He thought that they were lovely just the same.

            “Hey Selphie, what kind of weapon do you use?” asked Ellone. She had been thinking about taking up some form of self-defense and since she had about the same frame as Selphie, she thought maybe she could handle her weapon.

            “The nunchaku!” cried out Selphie. She was obviously very proud of her weapon. “You wanna see them?” She pulled the out of her skirt somewhere. Irvine whistled.

            “How were you hiding those?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

            She giggled. “That’s my secret.” Irvine had met his match. He tried not to let his tongue hang out of his mouth.

            Ellone touched the sticks. She balanced them in her hands. The people sitting around the lobby were looking at the weapon suspiciously.

            “Uh, Selphie...” began Seifer.

            “Hey Ellone, maybe we should look at those back at the room,” suggested Selphie. Ellone handed them back and nodded. “I can even show you how to do a few moves.” Ellone seemed quite pleased with that idea. The two bounced off.

            “Damn, I couldn’t think of a good reason that I would need to see that,” muttered Irvine slapping the table with his hand.

            “What, not even with your skills?” asked Seifer sarcastically. He may have teased Irvine for it, but he respected him a bit for it. It was hard for Seifer to wear his feelings on his sleeves.

            “Hey, I’m not the only one with skills,” laughed Irvine. He leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Seifer blushed. “So how long has that been going on?”

            Seifer put his hands out. “There isn’t really anything going on. But, thanks for not...freaking out.”

            Irvine leaned forward and said in a secretive voice “Actually, the more men that like men, the better. It leaves more women for me.” He went back to the more comfortable position in the chair. Seifer’s face was a fire. Did he like men? He liked Zell. And Zell was a man. But did that mean that he liked men?

            “It was smart of Zell and Quistis to keep an eye on Rinoa,” said Seifer, changing the subject.

            Irvine snickered. “Are you kidding? If Rinoa tried anything, Quistis would whip her to death.” He was glad to be off the subject of Seifer’s love life. It was only a reminder to Irvine that he didn’t have one. Well dammit, he was working on it. “I have to go check on the girls.”

            Seifer raised an eyebrow. “You thought of an excuse?”

            Irvine stood up, his gun close at his side. “Yeah, I like Selphie.” He strode past Seifer determined to make the girl his.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

                        “And this is for Seifer,” said Zell with a tinge of amusement to his voice. Seifer took the baseball cap in Zell’s hand.

            “I heart Deling City,” read Seifer. The group laughed. The day off had rejuvenated them and their confidence was picking up. Those who had gone on the sightseeing trip seemed happy to have gone shopping. Whereas, Seifer took the changce to sleep a little more. Selphie and Irvine had apparently had a big lesson in using weapons for Ellone at her request. Seifer rolled his eyes.

            “Try it on!” yelled Zell. He was happy with his choice. It was better than the little statuettes of buildings. The day hadn’t actually been as bad as he had expected it to be. Quistis seemed to enjoy it, despite Rinoa’s presence. She had even bought a few things. Zell had rowdied them up a bit and they had been in such bad moods, that they needed any help cheering up that they could get. “Pleeeease!”

            Seifer held the cap out, a little disgusted. He had changed, but not that much. He looked at Zell who was biting his lip in anticipation. ‘Oh, what the hell?’ thought Seifer. He slid it over his head, feeling terribly awkward. Nobody moved a muscle as he posed in his silly souvenir hat.

            “I’m sorry,” said Zell. He shook his head in disbelief at the mockery of Seifer sitting in front of him.

            Ellone burst forth laughing. She went forward and touched the cap. “You look just like you did when we were kids!”

            Seifer angrily took off the hat. “Great, I looked like an idiot.” Ellone snatched it up. She looked at Seifer questioningly. “You can have it!”

            She put it on her own head, smashing her delicate hair. She was turning into quite the tomboy lately. Selphie had seemed impressed that she had caught on to the nunchaku so quickly. It pleased her to think that even she could be a little dangerous.

            Everyone had gotten their souvenirs and items. They had certainly contributed to the tourist serving businesses. They all seemed happy about it though and with only a little over an hour to go, they needed it.

            “We should go now,” said Seifer. He wanted to be there with plenty of time to spare just in case something unforeseen happened. But Ellone and Rinoa were there. That was what was important. “Does everyone have enough curaga?” He heard random affirmatives.

            Seifer took a look at his small army. Zell was bouncing and ready to go defeat the bad guys. Quistis looked dangerous and tightly strung. Irvine was casual as always, with his shotgun over his shoulder. Selphie’s weapon was hidden away somewhere on her, and it disturbed Seifer that he didn’t know where. Ellone was the only one that really looked nervous, her hands fidgeting in front of her. Rinoa was Rinoa, just a stupid bitch staring blankly at him.

            “Well, give the word Leader,” he said to Rinoa.

            She smiled appreciatively at him. “Let’s move out!” Zell was the first one out the hotel door. Seifer was the last. He wanted to be able to watch them all. They didn’t attract much attention since the town was so crowded by excited citizens. Unfortunately though, it made their trek more sluggish. He began to think that they should have left two hours early. That had seemed excessive at the time.

            They took a bus to the President’s mansion. The bus had to stop several times to avoid hitting some drunk celebrating citizens. Seifer kept checking the time. He watched it seemingly speed up, just to screw them over. Zell reached out and put a hand on his arm. It was a small gesture that meant the world to him.

            When the bus finally stopped, they pushed through the crowd of spectators. Quistis wasn’t even bothering to be friendly anymore, she hit some of them to get them to move. It was getting on her nerves seeing all these idiots celebrating their upcoming demise. Didn’t they know anything about some of the previous sorceresses? She hoped that hitting them would knock some sense into them.

            “Okay, this is it,” said Rinoa to them, as if they couldn’t tell that they were at the President’s house. “Try to be as quiet and fast as you can!”

            ‘No shit’, thought the other six group members.

            Ellone was remarkably stealthy for not having had any training. She kept up with them quite well as they entered the President’s mansion. Seifer grabbed Irvine. “You have to get onto the carousel and hide there. Remember what I told you, Matron will be okay. Just don’t stop shooting once we start to fight.”

            Seifer saw Irvine’s sad look. He nodded and tipped his hat. “We’re going to win this Seifer. I’ve got a date with Selphie if we survive and I don’t plan on missing it.” He slipped by the group quickly.

            “Where is Irvine going?” asked Rinoa angrily.

            “He has an idea,” said Seifer shrugging. He knew that letting her be “leader” would shut her up and keep her with the group. She just rolled her eyes and followed behind Zell. He realized that he should have sent Ellone with Irvine, just to be safe, but it was too late. They were at the Sorceress’s float.

            Hidden behind the pillars of the large mansion, they watched the dancers warming up in front of the float. “Did anyone bring any dancing costumes?” asked Selphie, joking. This wasn’t as covert as all that anyway. They might as well have just been walking up to the Sorceress. Zell was the only one who laughed at her joke. It figured. He had the worst sense of humor.

            “Okay, it’s going to be me, Quistis, and Rinoa against Squall. Don’t any of you try to fight him!” ordered Seifer. Rinoa had her arms crossed in front of her and was pouting. Let the bitch whine, it wouldn’t do any good now that they were this close anyway. “Selphie and Zell, you are in charge of healing matron. Just keep the cure spells coming.”

            Ellone smiled at him. “I know my job.” Seifer felt confident now that he was in charge again. Everyone was under control and in place. This could very much work. A buzzing noise sounded from somewhere and they watched as the dancers assumed their positions in front of the float.

            “Everyone find a way onto the float! I don’t care how!” commanded Seifer. They all took off, every man for himself. They were sneaking along the walls of the President’s house. That was when Seifer noticed Irvine running with them.

            “Irvine, what the hell are you doing here?” he stopped running to get close to the cowboy.

            Irvine shook his head, his eyes wide. “You aren’t going to believe this, but there was already a sniper there.”

            Seifer believed it. This just couldn’t go smoothly. “You guys weren’t there to send to Deling City, so they sent other Seeds. Shit!” He slammed his fist into the nearest pillar, just like Zell would. He tried to think of what this meant. This would mean that Irvine couldn’t take the best shot at the sorceress, that was okay, because now they had two snipers. “Look, I know that it’s short range, but I think that you should join us on the float then.”

            Music began playing all around them. Irvine took a look at the lit float. They were going to miss it. “Oh fuck,” he said. He grabbed Seifer and ran like hell. The float moved forward a few inches as the dancers took a well-choreographed step. They were still not past the dancers, though they were moving forward. Over the sound of the music, they could hear cheering. The doors were opened and the float took off on it’s set path.

            “Stop running!” yelled Seifer to Irvine. They stopped as the float went past them. “Grab onto the back!”

            Seifer moved his legs so fast he thought they might come off. They had overshot the stupid float and now they had to catch up. The back of the float wasn’t exactly the safest place to be, but it was better than missing out on the action. “This is a really bad idea!” called out Irvine.

            Zell was worried when Seifer didn’t show up with the rest of them. He climbed to middle level of the float and looked out back. There were Seifer and Irvine running after the float. What was Irvine doing down there? He crawled out the small entrance to the middle level of the float and kneeled at the edge of the back of the float. “Come on!” he yelled. He put his hands out for them to grab.

            Irvine was a faster runner and he leaped up just barely touching Zell’s hands. Zell was prepared though, and he was caught steadily. Zell was amazingly strong for his size, and he hefted up Irvine onto the float. “Damn Zell!” As soon as Irvine was up, he knelt down beside Zell. “You are fucking buff!”

Seifer growled. This was not how it was supposed to turn out dammit! He focused on Zell, and jumped putting all his faith into it. He was shocked when he felt his hands lock with their hands. They had caught him! He was hoisted up and brought inside the middle level just before the crowd saw the back of the float.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         

            “A little late?” asked Quistis with a grin.

            Seifer collapsed onto the floor. He laid on his back. “You know me, I like a challenge.” From this angle, he could actually see up Selphie’s skirt. It made him smile, but he stopped smiling so that they wouldn’t notice. “Is everyone here? Ellone, Rinoa?”

            “All present and accounted for Captain,” said Ellone happily. They were really doing it. Going into battle with the Sorceress. She was so excited she could burst.

            “Okay, so since I’m not up there to be a sniper, we have to wait for the other sniper to fire,” said Irvine. He was actually a little relieved. He didn’t like having all the pressure put on him. Though when he thought about it, it was actually mostly up to Ellone.

When the others looked confused, Seifer stood up and explained it to them. “Well, Rinoa’s dad ordered you the first time to perform this mission. Since you weren’t around, there are now two sets of Seed groups.”

“Rinoa’s dad?” asked Selphie.

Seifer nodded. “General Caraway.” He had met General Caraway just after he had first danced with Rinoa. He hadn’t picked up on it at the time, but now he saw that Rinoa had danced with him just to make her dad angry. They had been frisking each other that night right in front of him. Everything that Rinoa did was with an ulterior motive. Oh well, let Squall worry about her now.

“If you have a dad with power, why aren’t we having him help us out?” asked Selphie accusingly.

Rinoa shook her head. “He wouldn’t help me out anyway.”

“Um, have we all forgotten the sorceress up there that needs to get her ass beat?” asked Zell. The others looked embarrassed, especially Seifer. It was just to easy to let his head get screwed up over Rinoa and her personality flaws.

“Okay, same plan,” said Seifer. “But Irvine, stay in back and just keep firing at her.” Irvine nodded. Seifer had spotted a ladder up to the top level of the float and he put his booted foot on the first rung of the ladder.

He turned first. “I wish that I had some kind of pep talk ready..” he scratched his head. Selphie and Ellone giggled, but they shutup immediately when Zell stepped up to Seifer and kissed him. Seifer felt those wonderful lips he had only tasted for the first time the night before. Only this time, they weren’t sleepy and comfortable, they were hot. They spoke to Seifer of the level of certainty that Zell had. They would win. And when they did, Zell would be his gift basket.

Zell smiled at him with his eyes, and pulling away from his mouth said “Let’s go.”

“Death to the bitch!” shouted out Quistis. Seifer climbed the ladder hearing the others preparing to go up as well. They were still on the backside of the float. Which was good because he hadn’t wanted to come up on the side with the Sorceress’s Knight. He knew that Squall wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. He just hoped that Rinoa would change him. He stared at the crowds around him and they stared back at him, cheering. They were all one drunk crowd.

            Seifer walked slowly up the right side of the float. They had to be ready to pounce when the shot was fired. He kept an eye on the gate. When would they bring it down? He felt an arm grab his. Looking back he saw Irvine. “I’ll be around,” said Irvine with a wicked look on his face. Seifer nodded and watched Irvine slip off around the back of the float.

The gate slipped down. Seifer ran forward followed closely by Rinoa and Quistis. He could hear his heart beating over the sound of the music and the crowds. It hurt his ears. And as they came around the front, he saw the Sorceress raise a hand and create a barrier just as a bullet went straight for her head. Seifer shouted out some sort of battle cry, he wasn’t really sure what it was. It was all of his adrenaline rushing into him, but he heard Quistis echo it back at him. They were like wild things. Seifer was ready to die protecting this timeline. He had finally gotten some things right, mostly himself.

Squall smirked at them, his gunblade slung over his shoulder. “So you’ve come to take her from me?” His eyes were clouded over, Seifer could see that from the ten feet between them. His heart went out to this poor puppet that had once been his enemy. Had Squall felt like this when Seifer had been the Knight. He didn’t want to feel anyone’s pity. He knew that Squall wouldn’t have wanted that either.

Squall brought his weapon down. “Let’s end this Seifer!”

Seifer grabbed Rinoa who had been standing behind him and he pushed her forward. “Can you kill her? Would you destroy her?” He yelled. Rinoa’s eyes became wide, glittery gems as she stared at Squall hopefully. For a moment, Squall just stood there, seemingly paralyzed, until he closed the difference between Rinoa and himself. Unfortunately, he did so with his gunblade. It sliced into her shoulder and she let out the most terrible sound. Ellone stepped forward, Selphie’s nunchaku in hand. She stood over Rinoa.

Rinoa whimpered on the ground. Seifer’s brain shutoff. She hadn’t worked! His plan had failed.

Ellone bit her lip. She didn’t want to harm Squall, but she knew that she could protect Rinoa by herself. She was ready to take on the quasi-brother that she thought of everyday.

“What about me Squall? I am your sister, I love you!”

Squall’s face became the epitome of pain. “You never loved me! You left me!” Then his voice grew angry and dark.  “Matron is the only one who ever gave a damn about me!”

Squall lifted his sword and swung at Ellone, who deflected the blow with the chain from the nunchaku. “No!” a voice cried out. Squall looked up at the voice.

Quistis stepped forward. Her hands were clutched to her chest, her whip lay on the ground behind her. “That’s not true Squall!”

Squall took a step back, he looked scared. Quistis’s tears ran like rivers down her cheeks. “I love you. I have always loved you!” Her hands drew outward in offering to him. It was as if she was confessing to Squall and herself. She had never felt so vulnerable before. If he wanted, she would let him slice her in half, for she would rather have died than to have him not love her back. “I have never done or said anything to hurt you! I want to be by your side forever!”

Squall’s eyes watered as he threw down his gunblade. “Quisty!” he shouted as he ran into her arms and cried like a child. He needed her touch and her love like he needed air. His tears dripped onto her beautiful hair and he reached out to touch it. “I’ve always loved you,” he said.

And that was when Irvine fired. He had just come out of the curtains behind the Sorceress and shot her in the back. There was not much snipering to it, but it was efficient. Edea’s body lurched. “I’m sorry Matron,” he whispered as he lowered his gun.

“Quick! Ellone! Do it now!”

Ellone dropped the nunchaku and clutched at her head violently. She felt the pain and pressure of opening up time. She imagined a place that was timeless, it had so little depth and so much at the same time. It hurt her to stare into the blackness that she was opening up. She didn’t hear it when Seifer cried out “Quick, she’s going for Rinoa!”, but she felt the Sorceress’s essence floating in the air around her. She was scared.

Zell and Quistis took turns casting curagas on poor matron, who was awake and experiencing the pain in full. Irvine sat nearby heavyhearted. He watched as a glowing came up from Edea’s body and hovered in the air near Rinoa. Rinoa screamed as it came for her. Her body went limp as she lost consciousness.

Ellone was trying to open the void as much as she could. She felt it the moment that the Sorceress’s essence entered the rift that she had opened. She wanted to feel relief, but there was too much pressure when she tried to close the gateway. “I can’t...control it!” she screamed. Her voice full of terror. She was overwhelmed. The sorceress was trying to take Ellone in with her. She fought. “Everyone....focus....thoughts....places....”

“Everyone! Hold onto your favorite thoughts!” Seifer tried to think back. He knew this drill. “Focus on someplace special to you! Do not let go of it or you will be lost!”

Ellone shrieked a miserable sound as the blackness overtook her. She tried not to lose herself within it. It enveloped her. Timelessness drifted around her. She tried not to let her mind go free like it wanted. ‘Think of the orphanage. Of little Squall and Quisty and Zell...’ she repeated these things to herself and then a new thought hit her. ‘Think of Uncle Laguna. Think of how much you want to tell him off for abandoning you. Think of how much you want to forgive him.’ She felt the blackness taking shape. She had control of it. ‘Let’s get us all back home’ was her last thought before the world materialized in front of her.