Of Now and Yesterday a Final Fantasy 8 fanfic by Majo-chan Chapter 4 Notes: still AU, still post game. In reply to questions: This is more post-game than AU, but since I will be introducing some magic in later battles that isn't exactly canon to FFVIII (rather, it is more similar to the magic in FFX), I thought I might mark it as AU to start with. Basically, I'm covering myself for any future weirdness. Irvine, Irvine, Irvine...dunno if he'll come back, but almost everyone else did, so I wouldn't be surprised. I didn't plan it, but that's never stopped my muse before. *grumble grumble* *****            There was no getting used to waking up after clashing wills with his Sorceress. It was like having a hangover, except ten times worse, and he didn't even have the pleasure of being drunk off his ass the night before. All and all it was a fucked up deal and he wasn't too happy with it.            The stream of thought indicated that his brain was functional, which meant he was awake. What woke him anyway? Seifer tried rolling over, succeeding only in groaning faintly as his head pounded and threatened to explode. Thankfully, the pillow beneath his head was soft and comfortable, and it was a nice place to rest as he tried to not throw up. Hm, he was in a bed. That's an improvement, he noted. Usually he woke up to the hard floor of his quarters in the place that was formerly the Presidential Palace of Esthar, feeling as if someone had dragged his unconscious ass from the Sorceress's room to his and then dumped him there without bothering to go the extra five steps to his bed. Being the Knight didn't give him any preferential treatment, obviously. More reason to believe that this job sucked.            No, this time he was in a bed. And it was, if his nose wasn't going insane, a very feminine smelling bed. A nice combination of vanilla and some sort of flowery scent. For a moment he wondered if he was in the Sorceress's bed...but dismissed the notion before it could cause him unwanted panic. No...this feminine scent was familar.            "SEIFER. AWAKE?" He couldn't quite name the feeling that overwhelmed him at that moment when he heard that voice. It was something terribly strong, though.            "Maybe." The conversation was muffled through the door, but still as familiar as ever. "I didn't hear a peep outta him for the entire night, ya know? I sure hope he's wakin' up now, cuz if not then the bitch probably really killed him...Ouch!" There was a hard thump and some very creative cursing.            "SHUT UP. CHECK SEIFER."            Seifer fought the urge to laugh hysterically. All that came out was a thin rasp, hm, vocal cords still not quite functional, it seemed. But his eyes opened obediently when he ordered them to and he was greeted with the best thing he had a chance to see in the longest time.            Fujin was rolling her eye with exasperation and impatience as Raijin limped in, still rubbing his sore leg where she undoubtedly kicked him and giving her a petulant glare. Both of their attentions turned to him though when he coughed dryly.            "Hey guys." Oh, good, his voice worked now. He grinned weakly. "what's up?" **            It was finally, blissfully dark. He glanced up at the sky and smiled. Even the moon was cooperating and hiding her face behind dark clouds. Esthar was shining, gem-like, in the distance even as he made for the north-west, hugging the sheer cliffs and the fences that surrounded that side of the continent. He moved quickly and quietly, taking the utmost care to avoid the night-time predators that wander the wilds around Esthar. It wouldn't be hard for him to win an encounter, but it might attract unwanted attention.            A couple of hours passed before he made it mostly around Esthar to where he hoped Odine's lab was. The eccentric scientist had gone into hiding when the Sorceress took over Esthar, but he could not leave his labs and research behind. Fortunately, the Sorceress seemed to have no interest in Odine and by the time she noticed that he was still alive, he had managed to relocate his things to his underground research facilities. Whether or not the Sorceress knew of their location (most of them were close enough to his original labs outside Esthar that it didn't really count as a relocation) remained unknown, but if she did know she wasn't doing anything about it.            Too bad for her. One of the people that she was desperately seeking, one widely believed to be dead, was hiding in Odine's labs. One Rinoa Heartilly right under the Sorceress's nose. Who said that Hyne didn't have a sense of humor?            Bah, he scolded himself. Concentrate.            The entrances to the lab weren't hard to find, if you knew where to look for them. As strange and eccentric as Odine was, the man was a fanatic about his precious research and did his best to protect it. Odine was no professional when it comes to planning for defense of a large organization, but he was a dedicated scientist. So at least most of the entrances were, in addition to being well hidded, well protected too.            "Damn, he just had to put it here...ahhhh!' He yelped muffledly as he lost his footing on bare rock. Once again, he almost broke his neck falling down a hole somewhere, though he had at least learned to do it more quietly this time. One muted thump, lots of muttered curses and a very bruised tailbone later, he found himself in one of the hollowed out caverns hidden in the cliffside of the strange outcrops on the Estharian continent. Rubbing his back and limping slightly, he made his way to one of the niches half hidden behind a random boulder and took off the leather glove on his right hand. Reaching _around_ the giant rock, he managed to snake an arm in and press his hand down on the hidden sensor pad. It beeped and made a whirring noise as it scanned his hand. "C'mon, move it..." He muttered under his breath.            //Identity confirmed. Clearance: level 4. Opening Entrance 49-B// The computer told him helpfully. He snatched his arm back as the locking mechanisms released and the rock started, sliding out of the way of a dark hole that was the entrance into a long passageway. Tacky, but it worked and that's what mattered.            He slid into the long hall and heard the rock move back in position behind him. After it was secured, the darkness persisted for a few seconds more before the hall lights came on. He sighed and started walking. He'll probably have to go through Odine first before he talk to Rinoa, and he wasn't looking forward to it. ****            Selphie fidgeted.            "Quit that." Squall said under his breath, his lips barely moving. To anyone who wasn't watching the Balamb Commander with the utmost care, it would've seemed like he didn't say anything at all. Selphie straightened and tried to not fidget, OR tug down the skirt of her SeeD dress-uniform. Her commander didn't look any more comfortable in it than she did, but he was still able to stand as still as a statue.            Selphie decided that it must be a natural ability. Even Quistis was starting to made slight faces at the uncomfortable uniforms, and Quistis had a high tolerance. She wished Zell was here--he was running a bit late because technically Instructors weren't on the invite list for top secret meetings--he would be here in a few more minutes, but in a few more minutes she just might tear her own clothes off and scream.            The thought was amusing. She wondered what Squall and Quistis would say if she did that.            Matron would probably smile, and tell her in that gentle way of hers to find something less constricting to wear. They were finally going to see that smile again. Just the thought made Selphie grin from ear to ear.            Discomfort temporarily forgotten, she turned to Squall and asked for the tenth time since 8am this morning: "When will Matron get here?"            "Selphie..." Squall looked away quickly before meeting her eyes, a motion familiar to Selphie as one he substituted for a rolling of eyes or a snort of exasperation. "You've asked that ten times already."            "She'll be arriving any time between 8 and 9, we established that." Quistis lectured in her instructor's voice, but she was smiling indulgently. They were in Squall's office, a short elevator's ride to the balcony side where Edea would be arriving. Quistis and Selphie were in the SeeD dress uniforms for women: Dark, high-collared and tight, not designed for either battle or comfort. Squall was decked out similarly in the uniform for men and he would be dashingly handsome if only he didn't have the slightly disgruntled expression at being subjected to this torture on his face. But proper etiquette was required and Selphie guessed they'd have to be formal even if it killed them.            "Ah, hell..." Selphie muttered as she reached up and loosened her collar, a bit more roughly than necessary. "I can't breathe in this." She explained as Squall gave her a narrow-eyed look. "I promise I'll close it back up when the announcement comes..."            "While we're all here, we might as well get something done." Quistis said with cool efficiency. "Selphie, Squall, regarding that man Zone was talking about..." From somewhere she produced a folder, Selphie wasn't sure where. "Here's all the information we have on him, which isn't much, by the way." Squall nodded, he had seen the contents. "Selphie, you've already set your intelligence on this?"            "Yeah." she took the folder and flipped through it even though she had seen it already. "Not much to work with, you know...? All we have for a description is that he wears black, and sunglasses, obsessively. We don't even have an image of him anywhere..." Something beeped and Squall went for his comm, but paused when his sharp ears located the real source.            "Selphie." He gestured toward her back pocket. The petite woman blinked, when the noise came again she jumped. "Your comm."            "Actually, it's my scheduler making that noise--one of my people's a genius with electronics, she helped me program these things-- " Selphie fished out her communicator and started punching in things, and the beeping stopped. "let's see, this is just reminder for..." She trailed off and when she stayed quiet, both Squall and Quistis gave her a questioning look. "Ah...it's nothing." She smiled sadly, and handed over her comm when Quistis held out a hand.            The blond instructor skimmed the message, then passed it to Squall. He stared at it, before passing it back to Selphie. "What is this?"            The Commander of Trabia Garden looked at the simple text message with a small smile. "A message to myself, of course. Remember those parties I used to throw when Sir Laguna came over to Balamb?" She grinned. "Those surprise birthday parties? Yeah, he loved those...this was how I kept track of everyone's birthday, you see. I just enter the dates in and the thing reminds me a month before." She turned it off and stuffed it back in her pocket, smile starting to look a bit forced. "I guess I forgot to ...remove some people."            "It's Laguna's birthday next month..." Quistis murmured, giving Squall a sympathetic glance. He didn't say anything, just kind of glared a little at the wall. "...Squall?"            "I didn't know." He answered shortly. The girls gave him confused looks. "His birthday." their commander clarified. "What does it matter? It's not important anymore." Selphie remembered that. Squall never celebrated Laguna's birthday, and vice versa. She had always been puzzled until Squall had, after much badgering on her part, explained that it was a deal of sorts, made back when they were still on barely-speaking terms. Squall hadn't cared to know his father's birthday, and Laguna hadn't been able to handle celebration on a birthday that was also a death-day, for the woman he loved more than anything else. So they had agreed to not celebrate. That didn't mean Selphie refrained from throwing them lavish and crazy parties (Squall had been more displeased than surprised that one time they tried a surprise birthday party) though, they just didn't attend each others' celebrations.            Before any of them could reflect at length on that, though, Squall's communicator beeped. Selphie quickly laid aside whatever lingering sadness that still plagued her and started buttoning up her collar. Squall gave them a brief nod after disconnecting. "Let's go." He said, turning on his heel and walking out to the elevator. "Zell's already on his way." ****            "Man, you look like shit." Raijin blurted out, then immediately winced and braced himself for a vicious kick to the shins. Fujin refrained, though, and merely glared.            "STUPID." She told Raijin. Then to Seifer she said, "FEEL BETTER?"            "A bit..." Seifer somehow managed to pull himself into a sitting position. "If I look half as bad as I feel, then Raijin just might be right." He winced as his head throbbed. Fujin walked over, stiff-backed as usual, and poured him a glass of water and held out some little pills. "Painkillers?" He asked.            She nodded and he took them gratefully. "HERE. WHY. EXPLAIN." She said after he swallowed.            "I think she wants ya to explain why you're here, man. We were worried, you know? Haven't heard or seen you in almost two months! Man, Fujin was in a cranky mood for the longest-" The red-eyed woman gave the rambling motormouth a glare and he shut up.            Seifer laughed, it made his head hurt but he ignored it. Some things never changed and for that he was profoundly grateful. "Well, I was hoping you can tell me, since the last thing I remember is pissing off the pain-in-the-ass Sorceress and having her put my brain through a meat grinder." he drawled.            "FOUND. OUTSIDE."            "Yeah, we found you outside our door, man, out like a stone. The soldier that dropped you off said that the Sorceress wants ta see you as soon as you were awake and all, but he didn't explain why he dropped you off here, ya know? Not that I'm _complaining_, we were just curious cuz the Sorceress hasn't let us see you in _ages_ and we were beginning to think that you were dead or worse--"            "Raijin, don't you EVER shut up, man? Or talk in non-run-on sentences?" Seifer laughed.            "SEIFER. EXPLAIN."            He had known these two for years, for almost as long as he could remember, and he easily understood Fujin's question. "I'm not sure what's going on either, Fujin. All I know is that I lost my temper something terrible last night, and said some pretty stupid things."            "You and the sorceress had a fight?" Raijin guessed.            "You can say that. I got pissed off and pointed my gunblade at her. She got pissed off and threatened to kill you two." It was no secret why Raijin and Fujin were here, although they were also vice-commanders in their own right. "I got more pissed off and told her how lousy she was. She didn't take it very well." He shrugged as if that explained everything. His expression darkened, "I think dumping me here is just another scare tactic. She wants me to see you two are all right, and that if I don't do what she wants, you two won't be untouched for very long." He rubbed absently at the scar across his brow, compliment of Squall Leonhart. No matter, he was the one who scarred the other's face first. "Shit, this is a fucked up mess."            "PLAN?"            "Nothing, at the moment." Seifer glared. "The bitch has me right where she wants me, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it except make HER life as miserable as I can."            Fujin remained silent for a few moments, as if pulling her thoughts together. When she spoke again, her words were soft. "You don't have to stay here because of us, Seifer." She said, for once dropping her usual speech mode. "Leave her, and get far away from here. I..._we_, don't want to be the reason you're caged in."            "You don't understand, Fuu." He sighed. "I..I can't leave you guys. Call it sentimental bullshit or whatever. We're a POSSE. Friends don't dump each other like that." He grinned wryly. "At least this time I'm in my right mind, I think." They cracked small smiles at that. "I'm not about to make the same mistake twice. We're going out or going down together, all three of us. Don't you forget it." ***            He heard the man before he saw him, a high-pitched, strangely accented voice yelling about something or another. He never got the hang of Odine's accent down, so he only caught some of what the little man was saying. "Vas vrong! Not zat one! Ze ODDA one!"            "Hey." One of the lab technicians waved tiredly as he exited the passageway into a huge underground laboratory. "Odine's in a snit."            "Thanks for the warning." He nodded as he waved back. "I'll watch myself."            Odine hadn't changed. He was starting to think the scientist might be some god-like force, to be able to stay so annoyingly consistant. Or maybe a guardian force. Now THAT idea was laughable. Doctor Odine had spotted him and was now making his way over, waddling through his sea of techs and other assisstants like a duck in a field of lilies. The doctor still kept his trademark outfit, including the flouncy collar, and his hair was still in that ridiculous topknot. "Vat do you vant? Vhy do you disturb ze very important research thiz Odine vorks on?" he asked shrewishly, his beady eyes narrowed.            "Nothing, Odine. Just dropping by to check on Rinoa, that's all." He said with his hands held up in a placating position. "No trouble."            "No trouble." Odine spat. "That iz a bunch of liez! Every time you are here, you are trouble. Odine vill not get much science done vith you here. Now get going! Sooner zat you are gone, sooner I'll rest in peace!"            "I love you too." He replied sarcastically. "It might help if you tell me where Rin is, since this place is bigger than my old house and I'm not that great of a navigator. Unless you WANT me to get lost in here..."            "No!" Odine declared. "Ze Sorceress iz on ze twenty-second floor. Room AD-890. Get out of here!"            He waved nonchalantly and turned on a heel, heading towards what he helped was a lift. *** End chapter 4