Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lost and Found ❯ two found, one to go ( Chapter 4 )

"You've been searching for almost a month and you haven't found a trace of them yet?" asked Cid on the vid-phone.

"Or at least nothing significant. I've been asking anybody in just about every town in Galbadia, and all I get is `perhaps they've been here' or `he looks like everyone that comes through here'."

"Are you sure that you went to the right places? Perhaps he's not even in Galbadia."

"I'm pretty sure. Esthar would know if Seifer were there, and all the other possible continents are pretty much uninhabited."

"Did you check to the north like the Shumi village or even Tribea Garden? They're both pretty isolated, so Seifer and his friends could have gone there."

"Shumi Village? Sure, I'll try there next. Could you ask Tribea Garden to be on alert for Seifer, while I start there?"

"I can do that. Meanwhile, just relax and take care of yourself. There's no real rush to find Seifer. Oh, and by the way, I sent all the information on him that you requested. Did you get it?"

"Yea I just got it yesterday. Thanks for sending it to me. I can imagine how many strings you had to pull just to pull it out of the vault."

Cid chuckled "Well, being Headmaster has its advantages. My wife also added some personal notes into the file from Seifers days at the orphanage. Might I ask exactly why you need all that information?"

Quistis' face reddened a bit. "It's just so I don't get any surprises when I do find him. Let's not forget that Seifer could be in a very unstable state of mind, and I want to know all there is so I don't get caught off guard."

"What ever you think is necessary. Just try not to get too caught up in this mission, all right?"

"I won't. Quistis Trepe out." Quistis cut the connection. `No rush indeed.' She thought, `It's not like I can just take my time when there's a group of dangerous men after Seifer.' In her report Quistis failed to mention all that she had learned at Fisherman's Horizon. For some strange reason, Quistis didn't want to give away too much information just yet.

As for the terrible trio, she couldn't find hide nor hair of them. It was like they disappeared off the face of the Earth. She was just hoping that the ex-Galbadian soldiers, who were also looking for Seifer, were having as hard of a time as she was.

Since there were no trains leading to the north, Quistis had to hitch a ride with some traders who frequently go to the Shumies for business. But when she arrived there, Quistis didn't know that she was about to land on a goldmine.

Qusitis shivered and wrapped her cloak tightly around her body as she made her way to the entrance of the village. She always hated the cold.`Why couldn't Seifer hide in a more tropical climate?' she asked herself.

On the outside, the village looked the same as it did the last time she was there. Same domed structure in the middle of a snow plane with puffs of steam rising from exhaust pipes. Once inside, Quistis was greeted in a rather friendly manor by a group of un-evolved Shumies and a cuddly Moomba.

"Greetings! What brings you to our village?" asked the tallest one

"I would like to see the Elder." She requested. "I have some questions I need to ask him."

"I'm sorry, but you cannot." He responded.

"May I ask why?" Quistis asked, a little annoyed.

"The elevator that leads to the village has been down for several days now. Our resident engineers are working as fast as they can. Unfortunately, they tend to argue a lot. Perhaps you could help us out. You see, we Shumies do not waste time by petty trifles. I myself do not understand why humans do this when there is work to be done. Our engineers are human like you, so perhaps you can get them to work faster."

"I'll…do my best." She answered a little bemused. "Where can I find them?"

"In the service tunnel above the elevator." Said the Shumie, pointing in one direction with a long finger. Shumies always had rather large hands. "By the way, would you like to use our Draw Point for 5,000 gil?"

"No thanks. I think I'll go help out those engineers." She said scooting off to the elevator as fast as she could. When she got there Quistis found a large panel removed from the wall where the service tunnel should have been. She also heard loud voices coming from the darkness of the tunnel.

"RAGE!!!" screamed a female voice

"Gees, Fuji! Ya don't have ta' bite my head off, ya know. Ya know I didn't mean it like that." Said a more masculine person

"LIES!" screamed the owner of the feminine voice.

`Could it be…?' wondered Quistis as she slowly made her way into the tunnel.

"Aw, don't be like that. It's not good for either of you, ya know. Ya don't have to be in here, I can do the repairs myself, ya know."

"Ahem." Quistis decided it was time to announce her presence by clearing her throat.

Raijin and Fujin both spun around to face the intruder in their conversation. A look of shock spread across their faces when they saw who it was. Raijin was the first to get over it.

"Instructor Trepe?" he asked in an uncertain tone

"The one and only." she replied.

Quistis took a second to look over the pair. Raijin looked and acted the same as he did in the Garden, but Fujin and certainly had changed in appearances since their last meeting. The albino woman's silver-gray hair was now down past her shoulders and not so choppy looking. She also looked as if she had gained a little bit of weight around the middle as well.

"WHY?" asked Fujin in her usual manner.

"Yea, why'd ya find us?" Asked Raijin, crossing his arms. He always was the one to emphasize what Fujin was saying.

"It's really not you I'm looking for." Quistis answered, "I was hired to find Seifer."

"WON'T FIND!" Fujin replied

"Yea, you won't find him here. To tell ya the truth, we don't know where he is, ya know. OUCH!" Fujin followed Raijin's remark with a swift kick to the shins.

"How did that happen? I thought you three were thicker than concrete." Quistis asked

Fujin gave Raijin another kick in the shins then gave him a nasty look.

"Ok, ok I'll ask." he said, rubbing his shin. "Before we answer anything, you gotta tell us who hired you to find Seifer?"

Quistis crossed her arms "Come on, Raijin, you know as a SeeD I can't tell you that kind of information. I will tell you that it wasn't those guys who are after Seifer. All my clients need to know is where he is and if he's a threat or not. But if he's not with you two, then I'm getting worried if those ex-soldiers have caught up with him."

Raijin turned to look at Fujin. She just nodded her head in reply. "Ok, we'll tell ya what we know. Com'on, we`ll talk at the inn."

Raijin and Fujin motioned for Quistis to follow them as they walked down the service tunnel to a hatch with a ladder that led down a deep black hole. "It's a bit of a climb, so you'll have to wear this so ya don't slip and fall, ya know." Raijin handed Quistis a harness to be worn around the hips. He and Fujin were already wearing ones. Raijin hooked his harness to a pole running along side the ladder and proceeded to climb down. Fujin roughly helped Quistis into her harness and hooked it up for her to go down next. Quistis gave one last look down the hole and started to climb down with Fujin following her. After what seemed to be a half-mile down, Quistis could see light. A little further more then she was standing on firm ground. After her eyes adjusted, she looked at her surroundings and found that they were standing right behind the inn. After taking off their harnesses, the three proceeded into the dome-shaped building.

There was a short Shumi sitting at a desk in the parlor of the inn and greeted the three warmly. Raijin returned the greeting and asked if he would send an extra dinner to their room tonight because of Quistis. The Shumi nodded, and the three walked on to the room.

It was a small, quaint room with not many furnishings, one of them being a single, two-person bed. The three sat down at the round table with Fujin giving Quistis cold stares when she pulled a tape recorder from her rucksack. "It's just a recorder so I don't forget your information." Fujin just snorted. Raijin tried to ease the tension between the two by clearing his throat.

"Ahem, uh, first of all there's no hard feelings about us fightin are there?" he asked as Quistis pressed the record button.

"No, of course not. I understand your reasons. You were just looking out for Seifer."

"Good. So where do ya' wanna start?"

"How about you just tell me the whole story after the defeat of Sorceress Ultimeca."

Raijin gave an uneasy glance at Fujin. Again, she gave him a slight nod of approval.

Raijin's story

"After everything went back to `normal' me and Fujin took Seifer back to Balamb Hospital to bring him back to health. When Seifer lost his connection with Ultimeca, he went into some sort of a coma. The doctors said all that power she gave him was ripped away too fast, and it left him drained. He was in it for about a week before he woke up. And man, when he opened his eyes, you could see that they were clear. See, when Seifer worked for the Sorceress, they had a funny glow to them. I knew the old Seifer was back, but he was changed, ya know. He wouldn't look at no body in the eye, and he wouldn't talk at all. It was like he was depressed and wanted to be by himself all the time. Me `n Fuj here tried to cheer him up and let him know that he wasn't alone, but all he'd do was burry his head in his hands and get up and leave.

Me `n Fuj were really worried about him ya know. I mean, we were a posse, we weren't about to abandon Seifer when he was in that state. We thought that maybe he just needed to get out of that hospital, so one day we decided to drag him out to the docks and go do something like we use to. Ya know, remind him of who he was and who we were. Seifer was still actin' like a walking corps, but while we were out there we passed by these fishermen pullin' up big ol' nets of fish. They were talkin' and laughin' while they worked. Seifer stopped and watched them for a while. He had this really calm look on his face, so I thought that maybe he wanted to go fishing.

I got some poles `n stuff and we sat down on those docks all day and fished. Well… tried to fish at least. We didn't catch one fish all day `cept for me. I finally caught this whopping monster…"

"You caught a minnow you idot!" Fujin interrupted using normal language "Then he started dancing around like a fool."

"Hey, ya don't have to get mean about it ya know. Anyway, Fujin kicked me off the dock, she was so jealous. And ya know what? While Seifer was watchin' us, he actually cracked a smile started laughin'. He started getting better after that. Ya don't know how happy me 'n Fuj were to see him slowly go back to his old self. We went fishing off the docks everyday then and even got some of the fishermen to teach us a little net fishing. Seifer would talk to those guys and they were real nice to him. Finally, one day Seifer said "Let's fish for a living." I was kinda stunned that Seifer would wanna do that sort of a thing as a job, ya know. But me 'n Fuj, were like, `what ever you want man'. Besides, we were so broke, we'd take any sort of work. So he was about to try to get a job as one, but the boss dude was like, `I ain't hiring no guy who helped that sorceress.' I thought Seifer was gonna deck that dude, but all he did was just walked away. He looked kinda depressed after that, ya know. I mean, it was like, no one wanted to forgive him for what he did. But those other fishermen that liked Seifer came up to us and told us to go to Fisherman's Horizon and find the Master Fisherman. They said that the people there were really understanding and they'd take us in if we wanted to start over.

So that's where we were gonna headed, until these guys started following us. I remember seeing them in the Galbadian army and we could tell that they were up to no good, ya know. One day, on of those guys walked up to Seifer and like, threatened him. Said something about helping em' rebuild the empire and all that. Seifer told 'em to jump off pier, which pissed 'em off a bit. They said they wouldn't leave him alone until he agreed and walked off. I don't know why Seifer didn't just kick his ass. Any way, we packed up and left for Timber to get tickets to FH, but he knew those guys would follow us there. Seifer wanted to shake em' off our trail, so he hooked up with this guy he knew and got some black market tickets with different ID's.

So we went to FH and found that Master Fisherman. He wasn't no master though. Me `n Fuj didn't like his style so we looked for other jobs. We ended up becoming apprentices for these engineer guys from Esthar, and that's why we're so good at fixing that elevator for the Shumies. But anyway, Seifer stuck with fishing. He was real good at it too, ya know. That Master Fisherman, (we called him Boss) `n Seifer would just take a boat out in the morning, and come back around noon with a boatload. Man, I though Balamb had some good fish in their waters, but Seifer managed to get some really good ones himself. Those two became really close during those 6 months. Boss was kinda like a… I wouldn't say a father `cause I didn't like my dad, more like a grandpa to him, ya know.

Seifer was almost like the way he was before the Sorceress. He kept talking of this new dream of just living free and doin' what he wanted instead of being controlled by someone else. Yea, those were great times. We were the posse again. At night we'd hit the bars and have fun and laugh at each other until we passed out from not breathin enough. All of us wanted to stay at FH `cause we had great jobs and some good friends there too, ya know. The people there didn't care about what we did in the past, `cause we were all trying to make up for it. Especially Seifer. We tried to get him to talk to us about it, but he didn't want to. He'd only talk to Boss about that sort of stuff."

"What about the men who were following you?" Quistis asked

"Oh man, we thought we lost them bastards, but they found us at FH maybe seven months ago. When they got there, it was a bloody friggin' mess. They were just reakin' havoc in the town by burning stuff down and shootin' at people. They even killed a guy that we knew. All of us wanted to go and kick some ass, but Boss wouldn't let us, ya know. He made us get on this sailboat and told us to keep sailing until we find somewhere safe. So that's what we did. We ended up at this backwater town called Mechanicsburg and laid low for a few days, but Seifer decided that we'd be safer if we kept moving. So for a month we just bounced around from town to town making sure that no one would remember us. Seifer wouldn't stop worrying about what those guys would do if they caught up to us. Me `n Fuj tried to calm him down, but he kept saying that he was putting us in danger again and it was his fault and stuff like that, ya know. Then one morning, we woke up, and he was gone. Seifer just totally packed up in the middle of the night and disappeared, ya know. We were about to go looking for him, but we found this note from him in my bag." Raijin got up and pulled a slip of paper from a book on a shelf. "I remembered back at FH Boss told Seifer that if things were really getting bad, we should head for the Shumi Village. So that's how we ended up here, ya know." Raijin handed Quistis the note. It read:

Hey Guys,

Sorry to be taking off on you, but it's better that those pricks from Galbadia don't find me with you. I want you to go to the Shumi Village to the north and stay there. Don't even try to look for me or I'll kick your asses. I'm sorry for all the messes that I've gotten you into, but we had some really good times anyways, right? You two were the best friends a guy could ever hope for. And don't worry about me, I can take care of myself.

Seifer

"And you have no clue where Seifer might be?" Quistis asked when she put the note down.

"Nope. If he doesn't want be found, he won't be, ya know." Raijin answered shrugging his massive shoulders.

"Have any idea where he is most likely found?"

"All I can say is somewhere very remote. Seifer talked about wanting to live in the tropics, but I don't know."

"WE FIND!" Fujin shouted getting up suddenly, but Raijin had something to say about that.

"Fuj, your due in 2 months, ya know. Kick me in the shins all you want but there ain't no way in hell I'm gonna let you go traveling like that."

Quistis gave the pair a questioning stare. "Due?" she asked

Raijin was noticeably blushing "Yea, ya see, after Seifer took off, we ahh…"

"PREGNANT." Fujin completed Raijin's sentence. She was glairing daggers at him.

"And she's 10 times moodier too. OW!" Raijin whispered to Quistis. His comment resulted in the usual kick to the shins. "We're getting married in a month." He said after getting over the pain in his leg.

"FAT." Fujin sulked imagining what she would look like in her wedding dress.

"How many times do I have ta tell ya, you're not fat, ya know."

Quistis was trying to stifle her giggles as they continued their lover's quarrel. She can't say she was surprised as the two were rarely (actually never) seen with out the other. They may fight a lot, but they actually complement each other.

"NEGATIVE." She replied to Raijin.

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but I need to get going as soon as possible. Do you mind if I take the note?" She asked

The pair looked at Quistis as if they just noticed that she was in the room. "Oh uh, no, you can take it. If you do find Seifer, ask him to be my best man would ya? Hey, make sure you let us know where he is at least. Me `n Fuj will be staying here at the village. You can just use a vid phone to contact us."

Quistis nodded her head "Sure. And I promise that if I find him, I won't do anything to compromise him."

Quistis got a nod of approval from Fujin. "AFFIRMATIVE." She replied.

Later that evening in another room at the Shumi inn, Quistis was playing the tape over and over and jotting notes down. Ever since Fisherman's Horizon, Quistis became determined to understand Seifer. In fact, she was becoming rather intrigued with him. Before the Neo-Sorceress War, she didn't give him much thought. Now that her whole mission revolved around Seifer, she dug up all the information that she could on him. Quistis hadn't had a chance to look at Seifers file from the Garden yet, but now that she was alone, she could read through the thick packet in privacy. Quistis ripped open the envelope and pulled out two folders containing official documents, reports and pictures. What she was about to learn was going to be rather disturbing.

Unlike the rest of the orphanage gang, Seifer didn't lose both parents during first Sorceress War. His biological father (who was an expert in using the gun-blade) was killed as a soldier of Esthar while his mother fled to Galbadia just before he was born. When Seifer was 2, he and his mother began living with her boyfriend who was a deadbeat alcoholic with a fondness for beating them both. The authorities finally stepped in when this man murdered Seifer's mother and put him in the hospital for stab wounds to the lower abdomen. In the report, all names, except for Seifer's first name, were erased. For his protection Seifer received a new last name, Almasy, and was brought to Edea's orphanage. As for the deadbeat boyfriend, he was sent to the D-district prison for execution.

Quistis looked at the attached photos on the report. The first one was of a blond little boy with sad, gray eyes with a young woman that had similar features. Quistis ran her hand over the photo on impulse. "Seifer." She whispered to herself. The next photo was of that same little boy in a hospital bed wrapped up in bandages, and another one of his abdomen with a jagged line of stitches between the hips and just below the navel. Quistis didn't notice the droplets of tears running down her cheek as she continued searching thru the packet. Not only did he suffer as an adult, but as a child too. It was like his whole life was one tragedy after another. Quistis didn't know if Seifer knew about this or if anyone bothered to tell him. Most likely he wouldn't remember due to the side effect of using the Guardian Forces, but deep down inside he may still be suffering from his traumatic childhood. `No wonder he was so messed up.' She thought, `I only assumed that he was just a difficult person. Who knows how all this affected him.'

As she continued shuffling thru the papers, she found Seifer's psychoanalysis, a requirement for all candidates for the Garden Schools.

"I have read talked to Seifer and read thru his file, and I must say that I strongly recommend that Headmaster Cid should reject this candidate from attending a school that focuses on the mercenary profession. Seifer has suffered many traumatic experiences from not having a proper up bringing, witnessing his mother's murder, and being a victim of violence himself. These traumas will leave him mentally scarred, and he would only be a danger to others and himself. His behavior as of now also shows signs of future misconduct. Again I wholeheartedly recommend that this candidate should be rejected.

-Dr. Kadowaki

`If Dr. Kadowaki gave Seifer such an analysis, then why did Headmaster Cid still admit him into the school?' Quistis thought after reading the report. `I'm going to have to question him about this some time.'

Quistis also found the added notes from Edea in the file as well:

"Seifer was always trying to get attention from everyone around him. He did this by trying to get into fights with all the children, or trying to make me angry with him. I thought that if encouraged the children to ignore him while he was exerting these negative behaviors, then Seifer would see that he would not get the attention that he craved.

Unfortunately, that effort failed. Instead of changing his behavior, Seifer ended up being alone most of the time. I encouraged him to make friends with the other children, but Seifer didn't understand because he had never truly felt friendship in his life. Nor do I think he ever experienced love from his parents. He was always very cautious around the children and myself. I don't believe that I have even seen him cry. Even the most independent of the children cried at some time, but never Seifer. The only emotion that I felt from him was anger and fear.

At the age of 10, Seifer and one other child were still remaining at the orphanage. No one wanted to adopt either one of them, so I had no other choice but to ask my husband to enroll them at Balamb Garden, where they would be raised to become SeeDs to stop me in the future years to come. I believed that both these children would have succeeded in such a goal because it gave them a place in life. Seifer had not place to belong, nor was he wanted by anyone, so I thought it best for him to remain at the Garden."

-Edea Kramer

Quistis added two more words to her list that described Seifer: Alone, and Unwanted. What would it be like to unwanted? Quistis thought back to her days at the orphanage and tried to remember how she acted towards Seifer along with the rest of the gang. All she could remember was trying to console Squall or Zell when Seifer got the best of them. She suddenly had a flash back of her as a little girl hugging Zell after a rather cruel bashing from Seifer. She remembered sticking her tongue out at him and saying, "You're a bully Seifer, and everyone hates you! Why don't you just go away and never come back?"

Quistis shook off the memory like a bad dream. She removed her glasses from her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. She suddenly felt a very weary and had large headache coming on. `I need to get some sleep. I'll work on Seifer tomorrow.' Quistis got up from the table and eased herself under the covers of the bed for a restless night of sleep.

Thanks to Solain Rhyo for beta-ing for me. Sorry this took so long. I spent extra time in this chapter for quality purposes.