Redemption Frägment

Interlude 02: A Knight’s Reprieve

As long as I could remember, we’d been fighting and pushing each other, forcing each other to improve. I guess it was only stupidity that kept me from realizing how much I cared for him. When he joined forces with the Sorceress Ultemecia, however unwilling, I was always afraid he’d do something – anything – that I’d have to kill him for. I never wanted to hurt him, never wanted any of this. Lion of Balamb… Commander Leonhart… they were just titles that described my accomplishments. I didn’t want them.

I wanted to be called ‘Squally’, ‘Squally-boy’, hell even ‘Ice Princess’ again. Anything to remind me Seifer was still out there, still alive. Until our world was destroyed, I searched everywhere for him. I even enlisted my father’s help, asking Laguna to be on a lookout for one Seifer Almasy.

After our world was annihilated, I woke up in Hollow Bastion, alone. No Irvine, no Selphie, no Quistis, or Zell. I remember relief flooding through me as I realized Rinoa wasn’t with me. She’d become even clingier with the end of the War, constantly waiting for me to ask for her hand in holy matrimony. I didn’t allow her the pleasure, always telling her I wanted Seifer. Perhaps not telling very well, though. She never took the obvious hints, though, and even tried enlisting my friends to get me into a tuxedo and to the altar.

My friends aren’t… weren’t… stupid. They knew right from the start, I’m sure. I suppose I had fallen in love with Seifer and, during the war, I couldn’t reach him. Rinoa was the last person to be so close to him, so I suppose I felt I could be near him as long as I was near her. We shared one kiss and it made me sick.

I left Hallow Bastion to Traverse Town and there met Sora. The kid was just like Seifer in a way, possessing that ‘devil-may-care’ attitude. No surprise he’d been able to beat me. After that, I suppose, in an odd way, Sora became like my apprentice. My ‘cub’. Creepy as it sounds, it’s also true. He’s my friend and I care for the kid. He has the same rough-and-tumble attitude as Seifer, but he’s fiercely loyal, protective. Another lion.

So when he came to Olympus Coliseum, practically begging for Sephiroth and I to join him, I agreed. We were all looking for someone important to us; Sora for Riku, I for Seifer, and Sephiroth for Zack. I was sure Seifer would be looking for me if only to make fun of me for losing control of the situation. So I agreed and found myself wandering the countryside of an unfamiliar world with the SOLDIER General and the Keyblade Master, looking under rocks and following clues that could have come from a questionable source.

Our mismatched little party eventually found enough clues when he hid by the cave mouth inside the dark town of Del Morte. Those we were looking for were inside, walking to their doom. We refused to let them and chased after them into the cave.

Don’t do anything stupid Seifer.

Not after I came to find you.